The Modern History of Jordan

Traditionally, Jordan has a long history among travelers and the Bedouin who have used the trade and pilgrimage routes that criss-cross the country, following the natural contours of the land, for centuries. To those traveling from Arabia present day Jordan was known as masharif al-Sham – The approaches of Syria. To those traveling back towards the peninsula the land was called masharif al-Hijaz – The approaches of the Hijaz.

One trail to the west followed the outline of the mountains of the Hijaz to reach Syria through Maan; while another followed the coast of the Hijaz and passed through Aqaba before reaching Maan. It was at this point that these two trails formed the infamous, “Kings Highway,” or Via Nova Trajana to the Romans. In Islamic times this route was part of what came to be known as Darb al-Hajj or Tariq al-Hajj – The pilgrimage road taken yearly by the faithful to Damascus on their way to Mecca.

The capital of Jordan, Amman, began its modern day revolution in 1908 when it became a main station in the Hijaz Railway that had been newly created by the Ottoman Turks to make pilgrimage route more accessible from Damascus to Medina.

Bearing these trade routes in mind one can easily see that Jordan has long been of prime strategic importance: As early as the Biblical Moabite kingdom and the Nabatean kingdom in Petra; to the Greeks, Romans, and Islamic Dynasties; being followed by the Ottoman Empire of the Turks; the British; and then finally today the ruling Hashemite monarchy – All have struggled for control of this valuable land where all roads in the Middle East intersect, but few have lasted in this land that has been deemed an ungovernable by so many.

Today’s present Jordan began with the leadership of the Ottoman Turks who had subdivided then called, Transjordan, into three divisions. In 1894 after forty years of rebellion in the region of Bilad al-Sharat the Ottoman Empire finally sent troops into Transjordan to establish garrisons and maintain the law and order. Rebels were granted a general amnesty and sheikhs were assigned monthly stipends to secure their collaboration. Ottoman administration was re-established through councils where all provinces, regions, and districts were represented. Soon minor agricultural prosperity returned and new villages were built where others had been abandoned.

Two revolts broke out against the Turks in 1905 and then again in 1910. At times the Turks intentions of establishing law and order clashed with the traditional way of life, as well as with local interests, especially when the officials were rude and acted thoughtlessly towards local custom. More over, modernization was seen as a threat to the power that was traditionally enjoyed by the sheiks. After seven years of revolt the Ottoman Empire granted an amnesty throughout the empire and the uprisings died down. When WWI broke out in 1914 the Turks had just gained a firm control over Transjordan.

In 1916 Sharif Hussein declared the Great Arab Revolt and Arabs from all over the Middle East came to join his forces that were backed by the British government. It is important to state that Sharif Hussein and his two sons, Abdullah and Feisal, were devotedly followed into battle against the ruling Turks because of more than the Arabs general displeasure with those who governed them. Hussein was a Hashemite, or descendant of the prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and first cousin Ali (Alids) and their son Hassan.

Shiite Muslims believed only descendants of the Prophet could be legitimate caliphs, while the Sunni Muslims merely accepted that they were a part of history and the most qualified person for a position should be used regardless of their ancestry. Both sects of Islam gave the Hashemites special reverence, because throughout history they had been sought out for leadership with all forms of complicated matters as the best representatives of Islam. This aspect, as well as a historical emirate outside of Mecca which was unique to the Ottoman Empire, made them key leaders when Arab Nationalism first began to become of interest to urban Arabs in Syria at the turn of the 20th Century.

Sharif Feisal is historically more recognizable for the large role he played in the Arab Revolt and later in history, as well as his personal magnetism, which he commonly used for his own political purposes. Abdullah on the other hand was frank with those around him, including his father, and always felt less favored. He was the son that Hussein would consult on both private and public matters, but he frequently felt as if he was the lesser of the brothers (Hussein also had an elder son, Ali, that was had poor health).

Abdullah was described as being open and at times transparent, and unable to keep a secret, but this later would come one of his most valuable virtues in working with both the Arabs and British, though it won him nothing in the beginning. T.E. Lawrence also described him as being, “too balanced, too cool, too humorous” and was “a tool too complex for such a simple purpose,” referring to the kingship in Syria. With that in mind Feisal was appointed king of a Syria that had been divided to the French during the WWI. Abdullah went to the Hijaz as his father’s foreign minister and field marshal.

On March 8, 1920 the Syrian Congress named Feisal king of Syria and Abdullah king over Iraq. When the French invaded Damascus that July Feisal fled to Europe leaving Transjordan in disarray, and Abdullah decided that it was time to resign from his father’s services and board a train bound for Syria with the purpose of regaining what his brother had lost. On November 11, 1920 Abdullah arrived in Mann, while his brother headed into Iraq to claim its kingship. In the end Abdullah would only succeed in regaining control over the small part of the Syrian kingdom that today is Jordan.

In 1921 the British decided to allow Abdullah to be the emir of Transjordan as long as he did not try to liberate all of Syria. It was also in this year that the allied forces officially finished drawing the lines of the political map of the Middle East that for the most part still apply today. In many cases grouping together regions that had previously been separate countries, and separating others that had been one.

During that year Abdullah officially handed over his claim of Iraq to his brother Feisal, and it would be a mere year later that Iraq would receive it’s independence from Britain. Jordan on the other hand went through several stages, first Britain officially recognized the Hashemite government in 1923 in London; then in 1928 the Anglo-Transjordanian agreement was agreed upon in Jerusalem, which transferred it from being a mandated territory to an official imara in its own right; but it wasn’t until February of 1946, after the conclusion of WWII that the British granted Transjordan full independence. It was at this time that King Abdullah changed the name of the country from Transjordan to Jordan.

Just months after Jordan gained its own independence the British mandate in Palestine came to an end, and the British troops pulled out without leaving any form of a government. The Jews quickly began to claim land that had not previously been agreed upon, so Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan sent in troops to help the Palestinians who were being murdered by the Irgun and Stern groups, and to reclaim land. Abdullah was in charge of these troops, but of the forces that had been sent only the Iraqi soldiers would follow his orders, and the troops in the end caused more harm than good. Of all the troops the Jordanian soldiers took the most land and later what is now the West Bank in Israel was granted to Jordan for the Palestinian people.

From the beginning of the fighting countless Palestinians began to cross the border to Jordan, which was the closest place for them to find safety. After Israel declared itself a country Jordan was the only country that granted these refugees citizenship, as well as a place in the Jordanian parliament, but many of them saw it as a political move on Abdullah’s part and were angry that they had lost their citizenship in Palestine. It was this anger and blame that ended in the death of Abdullah on Friday, July 20, 1951 when a young Palestinian man stepped out from a crowd in Jerusalem and killed Abdullah instantly with a shot to the head. His grandson Hussein had been the only family member to accompany him on this trip to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem that day.

Initially, Abdullah’s son Talal was named his successor to the throne, but he suffered from schizophrenia and soon his son would take his place. When Hussein was appointed king he was still 17, and had to wait for one year before he could officially take over the throne. The Arab Nationalists, Baath party, and communists made it difficult for Hussein to practice as much open democracy as he would like. Within a short time period he had to send a message to get through to them that he would not allow them to take over the public opinion and the monarchy. Tensions in the country did mount until there were riots in Amman in 1954 and 1955; it was at this time that Hussein made the decision for a major change in policy. The British were completely dissociated with the military that up until that point they had still trained, and there were many changes in government officials and policies.

On April 13 1957 General Abu Nuwar planned an assassination attempt on King Hussein, but his movements had been under watch for some time and his plans were easily thwarted within hours. He was allowed to leave Jordan the following day, first he went to Egypt where he lived for almost 10 years. As a show of support the U.S. government sent fourteen units from the Sixth Fleet that was stationed in Italy as a sign of support for the King.
Since the early 1950’s King Nasser of Egypt had been seen as the man who would reunite the Middle East into a Pan-Arabic state, and this was not something that would easily fade. His support of the Palestinians and attempts of treaties between Syria and Iraq only strengthened his opinion among the Arab peoples, and soon Nasserism was a full-fledged obsession among many. It was this devotion that lead to another attempt on the King’s life with 13 of his military officers while he was in London, but as before they were caught before their plans were able to be brought forth.
King Hussein made several attempts to enter into agreements with Nasser, but it wasn’t until after Nasser began to lose favor with his involvement in the Yemani war and failed Egypt-Syrian-Iraqi treaty that he began to see himself as being equal with the other leaders of the region. In 1964 a conference was called in Cairo to discuss the growing issue with the Israeli’s intentions of using the water from the Jordan River to irrigate the Negav Desert; the general conclusion was to try to restrict water access to Lake Tiberius where the Israeli’s were going to drain the water from. The leaders that had come together also discussed the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), placing Ahmed Shukairy as the leader. Shukairy was a lawyer who had worked with the former Palestinian leader, Hajj Amin al-Husseini. As a show of support King Hussein hosted the first Palestinian National Congress in Jerusalem on May 28, 1964 with over 400 delegates present.

From this point on Palestinians clamored for the king to hand control of the West Bank over to the PLO. Other countries supported this notion, and it was not until May 28, 1966 that King Hussein chose to reopen contacts with Nasser. Hussein proposed offering the Jordan military into an agreement with Egypt and Syria if there should be a war against Israel. This agreement was accepted on May 30, 1967, as long as Hussein accepted the PLO leader and agreed to take him back to Amman with him on his aircraft. Syria refused to stand by this agreement and denounced it as a betrayal to the Arab cause. King Hussein announced this on June 3rd at a press conference along with an expected attack from Israel, two days later Israel attacked and by June 11th Israel had overtaken the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and the Sinai (which they would later return to Egypt) in only six days.

After the Six Day War Hussein and Jordan were blamed for the losses the Palestinians had suffered. The United Nations attempted to intervene by bringing Israel and the Arab nations to the table. In the U.N.’s Resolution 242 Israel was to return occupied territories to the Palestinians, but it was never specified which territories, and the Palestinians were left feeling more frustrated than ever before. Eventually, the Sinai Peninsula would be returned to Egypt, but that would be the only part of the occupied lands that would be returned until 2005. While tackling this political problem Jordan also had to deal with the influx of Palestinian Refugees that were pouring into the country, making the population more than 50% Palestinian.

It was at this time that Palestinian resistance (musqawama) and the Palestinian revolution (thawra) began to take an openly defiant stand without any political backing. The Jordan government was not strong enough to keep the Palestinian fedayeen from operating at their border, but they felt competent they could handle the issue. Constant Israeli bombing soon made these groups more inward and the Wahadat and Husseini refugee camps in Amman became separate republics housing not only Palestinians, but supporters from surrounding countries.

In October of 1968 there was a radio broadcast that began a clash between a group called the al-Nasr (the Victory) and the police. Tahar Dablan, the leader, was captured and sentenced to death. After that the Palestinians did not trust the Jordanian authorities and the Jordanians simply did not want the Palestinian fedayeen in their country. These fedayeen actions did awaken for the first time a Jordanian national pride in the populace, where previously it had not existed.

In 1970 the government began to limit the freedom of the fedayeen organizations and in return they began to defy these efforts. Agreements had been reached by both sides on June 8th, 1970, but the next day the fedayeen opened fire on the Mukhbarat (Jordanian secret service) headquarters in Amman. When the king came to investigate the issue his motorcade came under serious fire and one of his soldiers was killed. Immediately the refugee camps were shelled and the conflict between the two forces lasted for three days. While this was taking place another Palestinian group kidnapped fifty-eight foreigners from two hotels in Amman, and demanded that the shelling of the camps stop before they would be released. On July 10th a new agreement was drawn up and signed by Yasser Arafat for the PLO. The terms agreed upon were that the Jordanian government would recognize a Palestinian “central committee” and permit the fedayeen free movement in the country, as long as they disbanded their bases and arms depots within the cities, and stopped carrying their weapons in the streets. Arafat urged the Palestinian organizations to stay clear of all Jordanian politics in fear that the much stronger Jordanian military would seek retribution.

On September 6th, the fedayeen hijacked three international airline flights. A Pan-Am flight was landed in Cairo, and after all of the passengers and crew were released it was blown up. The other two aircraft, TWA and Swissair were landed north-east of Amman at a desert airstrip called Dawson Field. These 310 passengers were not released and the PFLP threatened to blow up the aircrafts if the fedayeen imprisoned in Western Europe and Israel were not released within seven days. On September 9th another aircraft was hijacked, a BOAC airliner, with 115 passengers and crew on board and taken to Dawson Field. All 425 passengers were allowed to disembark from the planes on September 12th, and then the aircraft were blown up. 371 of these people were freed immediately, while 54 were kept as hostages for around two weeks.
On September 16th the Jordanian government sent in its military for a final sweep of Palestinian groups. Open fire began on the two refugee camps where the fedayeen headquarters were based and once the initial attack was finished the military swept the city for 10 days. The death toll according to PLO figures in the first eleven days of fighting was 3,400. On September 20th Syria sent 200 tanks across the border to fight against the Jordanians. At the request of the United States Israel sent its troops to the Syrian border to show they would not allow any of this on their territory and the Jordanian air force went into swift action destroying 75 of the tanks.

In March of 1971 the Jordanian army drove the Palestinian fedayeen out of the town of Irbid and into the forests between Jerash and Ajlun. The PLO leadership complied quickly, but feeling humiliated for this action they proceeded to launch guerilla attacks on Jordanian army patrols and installations in the area. On July 13th the Jordanian army launched its final attack, and by July 18th it was over. The following day the PLO in Jordan ceased to exist. That fall the Jordanian prime minister, Wasfi al-Tall, was assassinated in Cairo by a new Palestinian commando group called Black September. Nearly a month later the Jordanian ambassador in London, Zeid Rifai, barely escaped an assassination attempt when his car came under heavy gun fire.

After 1971 the Hashemite Monarchy was mainly devoted to internal issues and national unity. After fifty years of leading Jordan the country was just beginning to experience a measure of peace. There were issues with the PLO, but they would not discuss reconciliation until their forces were allowed back into Jordan, so the talks never amounted to much. In 1973 Saddat released the murders of Wasfi al-Tall from prison, where they went directly to Lebanon for protection. King Hussein took this as a very unfriendly sign and consequently did not participate in the war between Israel and Egypt in 1974.

In 1982 United States President Reagan launched the Reagan Plan in September, calling for a self-governing Palestinian authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but would not recognize the PLO and refused to talk with its leaders. Between October 1982 and April 1983, Arafat visited Amman four times to discuss the implementation of the Reagan Plan with King Hussein. The discussions dragged on until 1985 when Arafat initialed an agreement with King Hussein. The Amman accord did little to help either party, and only raised Palestinian suspicions. As tensions had once built up before within Jordan, this time the explosion was within Israel with the first intifada in 1987. On July 31st, 1988 King Hussein formally renounced his claim to the West Bank in a televised speech. On November 8th, 1989 women were allowed to vote and run for office for the first time and the fairness of the election was recognized by winners and losers alike.

From 1980-1988 Jordan would support Iraq against Iran in its war, and this position gave the country a great sense of nationalist pride. Most countries cancelled the debts Iraq had incurred throughout the eight years of war, but Kuwait demanded that the loans stay on the books. This action initiated a military move against Kuwait that was both regionally and internationally wrong. Last minute attempts at diplomacy failed, and while Jordan recognized that this was unacceptable they would not join forces with the United States against Iraq, though they did agree to the sanctions that the United Nations placed on Iraq at that time. This move lowered the relations of Jordan with the United States, but they still stand together as allies.

Overall, Jordan has made great strides that other countries have tried and failed at many times before and since. While, there may still be issued as of yet unresolved the country has a strong internal core, as well as a backing of international allies. The Hashemite monarchy has managed to successfully work along side his fellow Arabs and those from the West, and with this continued support they are sure to make it further still.

After reading this book I can greatly appreciate King Abdullah, and King Hussein. These men have put into action a democratic monarchy in a land where many governments can not find footing. I do think that perhaps this book is a little biased towards the Hashemites, as there is never mention throughout the book of any wrong done. Other countries and rulers frequently have their mistakes brought out, but as far as the monarchy of Jordan they seem squeaky clean from this narrative. Because I have worked with Amnesty International I know that Jordan has a reputation for torturing prisoners and letting off perpetrators of honor crimes out of a cultural relativistic viewpoint. I am very interested to see how all of this plays out in the history of Jordan from more than one perspective.