ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Jordan and Palestine by presenting some geographical, historical and political considerations about the area. Significant events on the international arena such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the United States's decision to open dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) led to secret peace talks between the PLO and Israeli officials in Oslo, Norway. This brief and descriptive geopolitical framework sets the stage for examinations of affective danger-zone tourism in the eastern Mediterranean region. The local geographic term 'Bilad al Sham' has been in usage for more than a thousand years and refers to the land of the eastern Mediterranean region. The Eurocentric concept of the Middle East brings forth and conjures dis/continuities and transformations within this region. The term is ideologically and politically connected to pan-Arabism, or more broadly to ethnographic, cultural, and regional aspects of the region.
