Nasser City

Nasser City (Arabic: مدينة الناصر madīnat an-nāṣir), officially Gamal Abdel Nasser City (مدينة جمال عبد الناصر madīnat jamāl ‘abd an-nāṣir), is the capital and 10th-most populous city of the Arab Union, home to an estimated population of 788,490 in December 2020.

Nearly all federal government ministries, agencies, offices and other headquarters are located within the municipal boundaries of the capital, which borders municipalities in the republics of Jordan, Palestine and Syria; the remainder are located in the adjacent suburbs in Jordan, Palestine and Syria. The north of the capital is bound by the Sea of Galilee; this quarter consists of the boroughs of Khan Asfar and Kiryat Shatt, which together feature a recreational urban seawall along the city's Galilee coast, while just to the west is the borough of Kamel Pasha, which offers excellent views due to its partial location on a plateau overlooking the Galilee and Khan Asfar and Kiryat Shatt below.

Nasser City is the largest planned city in the Arab Union, established in 1971 following the death of first President of the Arab Union Gamal Abdel Nasser, the city's namesake. The decision to create a federal capital city outside the jurisdiction of any of the 20 republics was mainly a response to the primacy of Cairo, the capital of the Egyptian Arab Republic and former federal capital as well; since Egypt already constituted over a third of the total Arab Union population at the time, President Hafez al-Assad decided the seat of the federal government should be located in a neutral setting. As such, following the passing of the Establishment Act, 1971 by the Arab Congress on 5 September 1971 and its ratification (and thereby incorporation of the new municipality) the same day via presidential executive order, Nasser City was officially established.

As per the planned setting for the new federal capital detailed in the Establishment Act, the Palestinian Arab Republic was to cede all territory east of the River Jordan and south of the Sea of Galilee. As a planned city, its urban landscape reflects its status as federal capital, and is composed of fifteen boroughs divided from each other by parks, gardens, greenways, and other natural and public spaces. The Presidential Palace, known officially as the "Garden Estate", sits on a mount to the west of the city centre in the borough of Kiryat Jalil, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, while the Arab Congress is located on Victory Square, the nucleus of the city centre which is also home to many other federal government agencies as well as many corporate and non-governmental offices. The Nasser City Police Service is responsible for local policing and routine public security, while the federal government's law enforcement and security agencies also maintain a significant presence in the city.