ABSTRACT
Aqaba has always played a crucial role in the history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. To the western world, Aqaba was perhaps most romanticized by Lawrence of Arabia coming upon the palm-fringed Gulf of Aqaba after crossing the desert. Today, Aqaba has catapulted into the 20th century and is a strategic key to the future of the region (Fig. 1).
