The country is bounded on the west by Israel across a 350-mile border along the Jordan river, on the north by Syria, on the northeast by Iraq, and on the east and south by Saudi Arabia. It has a total area of 37,500 miles which includes 3,700 square miles of Arab Palestine, west of the Jordan River, incorporated into the kingdom in 1950.
The population of Jordan is approximately 1,500,000, of whom about 500,000 are Arab refugees from Palestine brought under the Jordanian domain as a result of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. These refugees totalling a third of the population have survived largely because of United Nations grants and remain bitter against Israel and the West. They represent the largest group in the political ferment and must be reckoned with as a formidable force in the national politics of present, Jordan.
The country is agricultural but only ten per cent of its land is arable so that a fourth of its food must be imported. A great part of the fertile area lies in the northwest or Palestine region, where wheat, barley, beans, peas and vines are grown.
Both Old Jerusalem where sacred sites of three religious faiths—Islamic, Christian and Jewish—are located and Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born are in Jordan. Its state religion is Islam though 12 per cent of the people are Christians. Its official language is Arabic.
As a constitutional monarchy, the King is the head of the State. He approves laws, declares war, concludes peace and signs treaties. He is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He shares the legislative power with the National Assembly which consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The latter has forty seats while the former less than one half of that number. The King appoints the Prime Minister, his Ministers, the President and the members of the Senate. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet are responsible to the House of Representatives.
The national income of Jordan is about $112,000,000 a year. However, for more than thirty years, Great Britain kept military bases and a well-trained army known as the Arab Legion in Jordan to guard its strategic interests and help preserve stability in the Middle East. During that period Jordan received from the British an annual subsidy of $35,000,000 which amounted to almost a third of its total national income.
In December 1955, Jordan began turning away from the West when she refused to join the Baghdad Pact as a result ·of popular demonstrations organized by Leftists and Nationalists and fanned by Egyptian propaganda and agents. In the wave of these nationalist agitations, the Communists gained political ground by forming an alliance with the National Socialist Party headed by Premier Suleiman Nabulsi and the Arab Resurrectionalist Party.
In the national election of October 21, 1956, the forty seats in the House of Representatives were distributed among the following parties:
National-Socialist Party (moderate leftist)
........................................................... 9
Arab Constitution Party (conservative)
............................................................ 8
Baath (Arab Resurrectionalist) Party (extreme nationalist)
............................................................ 2
National Front Party (Communist) ........…. 3
Liberation and other parties ……............... 7
Independents ……………………..................... 11
It was obvious that with the Baath and the National Front parties, Mr. Nabulsi, leader of National-Socialist Party, was able to muster a majority in the House and thus became Prime Minister of Jordan. Mr. Nabulsi's party was committed to the termination of the British-Jordanian military alliance; a "liberated Arab" policy in cooperation with Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia; maintenance of positive neutrality; pursuit of federal union with Egypt and Syria; and opposition to all "imperialist" pacts or alignments with the West such as the Eisenhower Doctrine. It must be said that with respect to the British-Jordanian alliance there was not a single member in the House who was not in favor of its abrogation. So King Hussein was obliged to terminate the treaty in March of this year. In its place Mr. Nabulsi concluded an agreement on January 20, 1957 with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria whereby the three Arab states would give Jordan an equivalent amount of annual financial aid such as she had received from Great Britain. But thus far their pledge remains unfulfilled.
The present political crisis in Jordan was prompted by King Hussein when he sent on February 4 an open letter to Mr. Nabulsi warning him of the dangers of Communist infiltration activities and requesting his cooperation in suppressing them. This warning was resented by several members of Mr. Nabulsi's Cabinet, particularly those of pronounced leftist leanings. Their resentment was heightened by the fact that the order for the removal of Communist literature from bookshops and newsstands came from the palace without the knowledge of the Ministry of the Interior. Tension was mounting between the King and Mr. Nabulsi. When Mr. Nabulsi made a speech early in April urging the establishment of diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia and attacking the Eisenhower Doctrine as a "new brand of imperialism," it was the last straw for the King. On April 14 he dismissed Mr. Nabulsi from the premiership but kept him as Foreign Minister in the new Cabinet now headed by Dr. Hussein Fakhri Khalidi, a native of Palestine and an early follower of King Abdullah. The new Cabinet was apparently a compromise as it is by no means certain that the trial of strength between the King and Mr. Nabulsi had ended in a full victory to the King.
Khalidi, a 62-year old physician from Palestine, was the King's first choice to succeed Nabulsi but failed in his initial attempt to form a new government. He was recalled after two other candidates had also failed. It was hoped that because Khalidi was the first Palestinian to have been made Premier he would be able to receive sufficient support from the western region where pro-Egyptian sentiment is strong. But it is evident that he is finding it difficult to command a majority in the House if Mr. Nabulsi, who was retained in the Cabinet as Foreign Minister, did not give him the support he needs. Mr. Nabulsi, who is still the leader of the pro-Soviet and anti-West coalition, is confident of his return to power if he can rally the support of the Jordanian army to his cause.
In the current political crisis it is essential to understand several factors which play a dominant part in Jordan's internal and external affairs.
First and foremost, the people of Jordan, like other Arabs, have found their unity in Arab nationalism which seeks to rid the country of all vestiges of western colonialism and to destroy the existence of Israel as a national entity. This Arab nationalism is also a strong movement against the existing social order and essentially hostile to all Arab monarchies as a political institution. The Communists and other pro-Soviet and pro-Arab elements have successfully aligned themselves into a potent coalition and rallied the people on this dynamic issue. The half a million Palestinian refugees are a particularly articulate group which comprises not only the displaced unfortunates but also a cross section of the new middle-class intellectuals and professional citizens in the country. This is why the King still finds it necessary to castigate the Israelis and reaffirm Mr. Nabulsi's tenet of positive neutralism.
Second, the Jordanian Army will assume a key and perhaps decisive role in Jordan. When in March 1956 King Hussein was forced to dismiss British Lieutenant General Sir John Bagot Glubb from the post of Chief of Staff of the Arab Legion, he did it not only to carry out the policy of Mr. Nabulsi's Cabinet, but also at the behest of the Jordanian army officers many of whom are arch nationalists. Their appeal to the King was that he had to make a choice between himself and General Glubb. Since then the former Arab Legion has been reorganized into the First Division of the national army. This division of 18,400 men is about the best small fighting force in the Arab world. There are also forty-four National Guard battallions of about 650 men each but these are not so well armed or trained. Prior to the present upheaval General Ali Abu Nuwar, who was the leader of the Young Officers Group, became Chief of Staff of the Jordanian. Army at the age of 34 after the dismissal of General Glubb. He is regarded as an aggressive Arab patriot responsible for the "arabization" of the British-trained Arab Legion. In the first phase of the political shakeup he was relieved of his post and succeeded by one of his principal rivals, Major General Ali, who was in his turn stripped of his command only two days after he took office. They are now both in Damascus in exile denouncing the King's action as subservient to the foreign imperialists. It should be remembered that they both have the sup port of a group of young officers in the army and their defection may have an important bearing on the degree of personal control the King can exercise over the Jordanian Army which is essential to the maintenance of his throne.
Third, apart from Jordan's united enmity toward Israel which is shared by the whole Arab world, she is in the Arab world itself torn between the pro-Soviet and anti-West leanings of Egypt and Syria, with which Mr. Nabulsi wanted to achieve a political union, and the pro-West and anti-Soviet policies of Iraq, with which she is united by the blood ties of the Hashemite family and by the treaty of alliance of 1947. Coincident with the dismissal of Mr. Nabulsi's Cabinet, Syria sent an armored regiment into northern Jordan to reinforce 3,500 other Syrian troops already there ostensibly to guard its border against Israel. In the south were 5,000 troops from Saudi Arabia for a similar assignment. Iraq was also reported to be dispatching its troops into northeast Jordan. And Israel, enemy of all three, was anxious to annex the territory along the west bank of Jordan River into its own domain. Thus Jordan is circumscribed by her four neighbors, friends and foe alike, each wanting to carve up a part of her country at the first signs of her disintegration. If that is to happen, it may mean a new war in the Middle East.
Fourth, Jordan's state of finance is extremely precarious because Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia have not thus far honored their tripartite pledge made last January of replacing the British annual grant of $35,000,000 which accounted for a third of Jordan's national income. It is obvious that the King must have enough financial assistance, and very soon, in order to keep his grip on the country. As one of his loyal spokesmen said the other day, the King needs the money to run his army.
In the fifth and last place, President Eisenhower announced on April 17 that the United States would come to the aid of Jordan if she was attacked by the Communists.
This is covered by the Middle East resolution adopted by Congress which authorized the President to give military aid to any victim of Communist aggression that requested such aid. If, however, any of Jordan's neighbors wanted to take advantage of her internal conflict to annex a part of her territory, the United States would come to the aid of the victim under the tripartite declaration of May 25, 1950 made with Great Britain and France after the end of the Arab-Israeli war. In this way President Eisenhower reaffirmed the validity of that declaration which had been regarded by the British and the French all but defunct as a result of their attack on Egypt last fall. In either case it will be up to the King to ask for economic or military aid from the United States. At this moment the odds are still against him in gaining firm control of the destiny of his nation although the pro-Soviet and anti-West elements have suffered a serious setback in their attempt, to perpetuate their alignment with Moscow and Cairo. The hand of the King needs to be strengthened by the Free World now that he has turned definitely against communism. In particular the United States must do its utmost to prevent Jordan from falling into the Communist or pro-Communist orbit while there is still time. Herein lies the first test of success or failure of the new Eisenhower Doctrine.
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Editor's Note. It is perhaps necessary for us to note here, in view of the fluid condition now obtaining in the Middle East, that this article was received on April 25.
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To learn good three years is not enough; to learn bad only one morning yield results.