JORDAN IN THE STRUGGLE FOR ITS OWN SURVIVAL, 1967 – 1974

Abstract

By 10 June 1967 Israel was in occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the West Bank of the River Jordan. The effect on all three countries was devastating, but especially for Jordan, which lost a third of its population and its prime agricultural land, and control of the Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem. The enormity of the defeat brought about a great change in the attitude of the Palestinians, a large number of whom now became convinced that the Arab regimes were either unable or unwilling to liberate Palestine. The Palestine Liberation Organization’s new tactics began to pose a severe threat to the continuation of the Jordanian monarchy, so in 1970 its guerrillas were driven out of Jordan. Over the next few years the Jordanian government gradually reasserted its authority over the country. Jordan did not participate in the war of October 1973. However, King Ḥusayn, along with his fellow Arab leaders, was obliged to recognize the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” at the Rabat Arab summit in October 1974, which inevitably diminished both his authority, and much of what was left of his appeal, on the West Bank.