In Jordan, the Politics of Moderation Are Eroding

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

While much of the Middle East is in turmoil, with civil war in Syria, constitutional confusion in Egypt, continuing violence in Iraq, and near-anarchy in Libya, Jordan has remained a relative pro-Western oasis of tranquility. All has not been calm of late, though.

The monarchy that became modern Jordan was created after the First World War, when the British, who had been given control over Palestine by the League of Nations, carved out a state, Transjordan, on the East Bank of the Jordan River.

It was ruled by one of their Hashemite allies, Abdullah ibn Hussein. The Hashemites, who had been driven out of the Arabian Peninsula by the Saudis, claim to be direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

The British-sponsored emirate became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after 1948, when the Arab Legion, the country’s army, captured the Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the first Arab-Israeli War. It lost the area in the 1967 conflict between the Arab states and Israel.

Abdullah’s grandson, King Hussein, ruled Jordan from 1952 to 1999. In 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israel. Jordan also renounced all claims to the territories it had ruled west of the Jordan River before 1967; these are now under Israeli military control but governed mainly by the Palestinian Authority.

Although the current monarch, Abdullah II, and much of the political elite, are Bedouins, about half of Jordan’s 6.5 million people are Palestinian Arabs, many with close ties to their compatriots on the other side of the Jordan River.

The vast majority are of refugee origin, following the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel, and Palestinian attitudes toward Jordan have been ambivalent.

Although most Palestinians have Jordanian citizenship and many have integrated, Jordan still considers them refugees with a right of return to Palestine.

In January 2011, Jordanians protested economic hardship in demonstrations led by the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. There has been growing dissatisfaction due to rising unemployment and corruption.

Last year, there was further unrest, when an increase in gas prices triggered more anger at the government. This past November, some even called for the overthrow of the king.

The hike in prices had been forced upon the country by the International Monetary Fund, which made them a condition for the Jordanian government to receive $2 billion in IMF aid.

In turn, the king dissolved parliament and appointed a new prime minister, Dr. Abdalla Ensour – the fourth incumbent since February 2011.

Parliamentary elections have been called for Jan. 23, and many Jordanians fear more economic austerity measures will be in store afterword.

The Islamic Action Front is boycotting the vote, in protest against an election law it sees as biased in favor of pro-government loyalists. Some analysts assert that it would probably gain power in any free and fair election.