Middle East - Anthony Ham [283]
Directly after WWII, the British threw in the towel and handed over control of the region to the UN, which voted in favour of the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. Agreement could not be reached, however, and the Arab-Israeli War broke out in 1948, prompting many Palestinians to flee to Transjordan and ending with a comprehensive victory for Israel; it ensured Jewish occupation of the zones allocated to them under the UN partition plan as well as almost all those assigned to the Palestinian Arabs. Transjordan exploited the situation and occupied the West Bank and part of Jerusalem, whereupon King Abdullah shortened his fledgling country’s name to Jordan.
King Abdullah was assassinated in 1951. He was succeeded the following year by his grandson Hussein, who took the throne at the age of just 17 and managed to hold it for 48 years through insurrection attempts, two wars with the Israelis and a virtual civil war with the Palestinians. He reigned until his death in 1999.
In the 1960s, aid poured in from the USA and Jordan enjoyed a boom in tourism, mainly in Jerusalem’s old city. The situation was radically altered by the Six Day War of 1967, in which Jordan lost the West Bank and its half of Jerusalem to occupying Israeli forces. In return it gained a huge influx of Palestinian refugees.
These Palestinians, particularly the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), became more militant against the Israeli occupation in the early 1970s and were angered in part by Hussein’s claim to be the leader of the Palestinian people. After some bloody fighting in 1971, the bulk of the radicals were forced to cross the border to Lebanon, where they would later become one part among many of that country’s woes.
King Hussein’s diplomatic skills were stretched to the fullest when, during the 1991 Gulf War, he refused to side against Iraq, fearing unrest among Jordan’s Palestinian populace. For the third time in 45 years, Jordan experienced a massive refugee inflow, with as many as 500,000 Palestinians previously working in the Gulf States fleeing to Jordan.
Jordan recovered remarkably well from that conflict and, despite fears of the threat of Islamic extremism, King Hussein went ahead and signed a full peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
When King Hussein finally succumbed in February 1999 to the cancer that had been ailing him for so long, his son and nominated heir, Abdullah II, became king of a comparatively stable and prosperous country.
Jordan Today
Inheriting much of the diplomatic flair of his father, King Abdullah belongs firmly to the new generation of Arab leaders in favour of social and economic reform. He has backed the promotion of women’s rights (in 2007, 20% of seats in municipal councils were reserved for women) and supports freedom of the press, albeit tempered by local sensibilities. Jordan Media City, the country’s state-of-the-art media hub, transmits 120 program channels.
In common with other leaders in the region, the King has had to tread a fine line between cooperation with regional neighbours (especially Syria) while finding new ways of integrating with the rest of the world. His efforts in this regard have already won him international acclaim, especially in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian intifada (uprising).
Managing relations with Iraq (and the influx of 700,000 Iraqi refugees) has proved more problematic. This is especially the case as many of the refugees have greater spending power than average Jordanians and are being blamed for rising prices. Inflation topped 5.4% in 2007 and was expected to exceed that figure in 2008. Coupled with the rising price of fuel, inflation is now a major issue for the government.
Parliamentary elections last took place in November 2007, with independent, pro-government