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After a Century, Jordan Has Outlived Expectations, but Remains Precarious

(Fathom-BICOM-UK) Asher Susser - Jordan recently launched its centennial celebrations, defying the skeptics who had predicted the kingdom's demise on countless occasions. How had the kingdom survived for so long, against the odds, and in contrast to its neighbors in the Fertile Crescent? When Britain's then-Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill founded the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921, it did not include even one city. Amman was a village, mainly Circassian, with 2,500 inhabitants. Only one town, al-Salt, had a population of 20,000. Most of the country was an underpopulated and impoverished desert with no natural resources. Yet Jordan is 90-95% Sunni Muslim and Arab, unlike the multiple sects in neighboring Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, whose sectarian conflicts have led to their destruction. Though King Abdullah II has been on his throne for 22 years, he is still often compared, mostly unfavorably, to his father Hussein. Abdullah received all his formal education, from elementary school onwards, in England and the U.S. Hussein also studied for a few years in his teens in England. But he never lost his intimate attachment to Jordan and its people. The Jordanians admired Hussein's command of Arabic, while Abdullah was sometimes the object of ridicule because of his faulty language. Abdullah's upbringing did not include intimacy with tribal mores and politics, which were second nature to Hussein. The writer is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University.
2021-06-07 00:00:00
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