Kingdom of Jordan 1400877997, 9781400877997

Table of contents :
Preface
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The Land and the People
2. Jordan: Past and Present
3. Political Developments
4. National Attitudes
5. The Framework of Government
6. Finance, Commerce, and Industry
7. Agriculture and Labor
8. The Family
9. The Nomadic Tribes and Sedentarization
10. Villages and Towns
11. Religion
12. Health, Sanitation, and Welfare
13. Language and Education
14. The Arts, Literature, and Communication
15. Values and Outlook
Glossary
Suggested Readings
Index

Citation preview

The Kingdom of JORDAN

THE KINGDOM OF JORDAN BY RAPHAEL PATAI

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 1958

Copyright © 1958 by Princeton University Press All Rights Reserved L.C. Card: 58-6107

Printed in the United States of America by the Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., Binghamton, New York

PREFACE FOR many years the Kingdom of Jordan has been in the lime­

light of international affairs. The political maneuvering between Jordan and her neighbors, as well as within the country itself, has been anxiously watched all over the world, and has brought about an increased interest in Jordan and her people—subjects on which very little information has been available. This book is the first comprehensive study of the Kingdom of Jordan. It contains a detailed account of the most recent political developments in Jordan and their historical background, and attempts to provide an understanding of the role Jordan is play­ ing in the present strife between pro-Western and pro-Soviet elements in the Arab world. It supplies information on the gov­ ernment of Jordan, her constitution, finances, commerce, in­ dustry, agriculture, labor, and communications. In contrast to many books written on foreign countries, the emphasis in this volume is on the people: their way of life, their social structure, religion, culture, attitudes, and values. The way the Jordanian family is organized and functions, the worlds of the Jordanian nomads, villagers, and townspeople, of the reli­ gious minorities—all these subjects are treated in considerable detail. The many-faceted struggle for sanitation, welfare, education, artistic and literary expression, and the vital issue of Westerniza­ tion versus traditionalism are analyzed. The history of the writing of this book goes back to the spring of 1955 when I was asked by the Human Relations Area Files, Inc.—an inter-university research institution with headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut—to head a research project on Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria with a view to producing handbooks and bibliographies on these three countries. The three country monographs resulting from the project included articles written by sixteen scholars aifiliated with eleven universities or scientific institutions (Farid Aouad, Isam Ashur, M. M. Bravmann, Kingsley Davis, Robert W. Ehrich, John Gulick, Philip K. Hitti, J. C. Hurewitz, Charles Issawi, Jacob Landau, Simon D. Messing, Raphael Patai, Moshe Perlmann, Fahim I. Qubain, ν

PREFACE William Sands, Toufic Succar), were edited by me, and repro­ duced in a small number of copies in 1956. Subsequently, in 1957, the Jordan handbook was published in a limited litho­ print edition with slight revisions. In writing the present volume, I drew heavily on the contribution of the scholars enumerated above, for which my best thanks are expressed herewith. I am especially indebted to Professor Charles Issawi for his permis­ sion to utilize much of the economic chapters he contributed to the Jordan Handbook, and to Professor Simon D. Messing, who collaborated with me in the writing of the chapters on health, sanitation, and welfare for the Jordan Handbook. Special thanks are also due to the Human Relations Area Files, Inc., for permission to utilize considerable portions of my own chapters in the Jordan Handbook; to the University of Kan­ sas Press for permission to quote from Faris and Husayn's book The Crescent in Crisis; to the Johns Hopkins Press and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for per­ mission to reprint the rain-map of Jordan originally published in the volume The Economic Development of Jordan; to the Geography Department of the University of Chicago for per­ mission to reprint a map showing the density of population in Jordan, and a table of the climatic regions of Jordan, originally published in Paul G. Phillips' book The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Prolegomena to a Technical Assistance Program; to Mr. Majid Elass of the Arabian-American Oil Co., and Professor M. M. Bravmann of Dropsie College for help and advice on linguistic and other questions; to the Zionist Archives and Library for the photograph of King Abdullah and the air view of Jerusalem, and to the Arab Information Center for all of the other photographs. RAPHAEL PATAI

Forest Hills, N.Y. Jan. 10, 1958

CONTENTS Preface 1. The Land and the People 2. Jordan: Past and Present 3. Political Developments 4. National Attitudes 5. The Framework of Government 6. Finance, Commerce, and Industry 7. Agriculture and Labor 8. The Family 9. The Nomadic Tribes and Sedentarization 10. Villages and Towns 11. Religion 12. Health, Sanitation, and Welfare 13. Language and Education 14. The Arts, Literature, and Communication 15. Values and Outlook Glossary Suggested Readings Index

ν 3 23 50 73 90 96 119 136 156 199 222 238 253 262 275 303 307 309

ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE

Road through the hills of Jordan View of Nablus King Abdullah (Mecca 1882-Jerusalem 1951) King Husayn decorating one of his legionnaires Street scene in Amman A young craftsman inserting mother of pearl in decorative woodwork Engraver working on a brass plate Bedouin girl herding her flock of sheep Farmers plowing with camel and oxen Sifting corn on the village threshing floor Member of the desert patrol of the Arab Legion Camel-mounted police on parade The Qumran caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found Monastery of St. Sabas in the Judaean desert The city of Bethlehem Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock upper right Franciscan monks kneeling on the Via Dolorosa

6 6 6 7 7 134 134 134 134 135 135 135 230 230 230 231 231

MAPS Jordan and Neighboring Countries The Kingdom of Jordan The Density of Population Distribution of Rainfall Wandering Territory of the Major Tribes

PAGE 4 11 24 120 158

The Kingdom of JORDAN

1. THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE To the Western world the name Jordan brings to mind the river where Christ was baptized, often referred to in the Old and New Testaments as the gateway to the promised land of the Hebrews. But in modern times the "Deep River" of the familiar Negro spiritual (actually a shallow, sluggish, meander­ ing stream, not navigable, carrying only around 16 cubic meters of water per second) has given its name to a relatively new na­ tion which came into being after World War I as Transjordan and which in 1948 became simply Jordan. Though the name of Jordan is familiar, the land and nation bearing the name are not as well known in the West as they deserve to be. In recent years Jordan has increasingly drawn the attention of the West because, just as in ancient times it stood strategically athwart the caravan routes, it now stands strategically amidst the countries of the Near East, bordered by Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. At Aqaba, where the southernmost tip of Israel extends, Jordan is almost con­ tiguous with Egypt. A small country, poor in resources, it seeks to make its way among conflicting tensions and policies. The ensuing pages are intended to provide an organized account of the land, its people, their history, economy, society, and culture—in short, a picture of Jordan in all its aspects, as far as they can be covered in a small book. THE LAND

The total area of Jordan is variously estimated to cover from 36,715 to 39,500 square miles, a little bigger than Portu­ gal, about the same size as the state of Indiana. Of this, 34,550 to 37,335 square miles, lying to the east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea, constituted the area of Transjordan up to the annexation of the West Bank territory (2,165 square miles) following the Palestine conflict of 1948. The entire West Bank is surrounded by Israel (the length of the Jordan-Israel frontier is 350 miles) and it extends to a distance of less than 10 miles

JORDAN AND NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

THE LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

from the Mediterranean coastline. This border has been the scene of many hostilities and "incidents," in spite of United Nations mediation. The East Bank is bounded on the north by the Jarmuk River, which flows into the Jordan just south of the Sea of Galilee, and by Syria; on the east by Iraq and Saudi Arabia; on the south by Saudi Arabia; and in the south­ west by Israel. In the northwest for some 15 miles the JordanIsrael boundary is formed by the upper reaches of the Jordan River. The only access Jordan has to the sea is at its south­ western corner, at Aqaba on the Red Sea gulf, a coast of a mere few miles. More than four fifths of the East Bank territory is desert, geographically and climatologically part of the Syrian (or North Arabian) Desert, with an average rainfall of less than 5 inches annually, all of it occurring in the short, cool winter season of December to March. The long, hot summer season (from April to November) is rainless, with great temperature differ­ ences (especially in the uplands) between the very hot daytime and the cool nights. These uplands can be roughly divided into four zones on the basis of variations in precipitation: Zone 1. The Northern Uplands, which receive 16 or more inches of rainfall, extend from the Syrian border to beyond the Amman-Jericho road. This is the best land at present under cultivation, supporting numerous fruit trees as well as cereals and vegetables. In the Ajlun mountains there are oak, pine, cypress, and acacia forests; these have suffered greatly in the last fifty years but are being reforested. Zone 2. The zone receiving 8-16 inches of rain stretches from the Jericho road south to Wadi Araba and extends east of Zone 1 up to the Syrian border. The crops grown do not differ greatly from those of Zone 1 except that cereals occupy a larger proportion of the total area. Zone 3. The zone receiving 4-8 inches lies east of the Hijaz railway. In it cultivation is irregular and consists almost wholly of cereals. Zone 4. The zone east of the 4-inch isohyet consists of steppe and desert country. In this area even the most primitive dry farming is impossible, and only pastoral nomadic tribes can find subsistence.

THE LAND AND

THE PEOPLE

Approaching the western part of the East Bank, the desert slowly rises and gives way to the steppe country of the Jordanian highlands. These are high limestone plateaus with an average altitude of 3,000 feet and with hills rising to more than 4,000 feet in the north and to more than 5,400 feet in the south. Today these plateaus contain sedentary life only in the north­ west, but numerous sites of magnificent ancient ruins bear wit­ ness that an advanced civilization in antiquity found it possible to support sizable towns in places which today are desolate. The western edge of the plateau forms an escarpment over the Jordan-Dead Sea-Araba rift, which forms the Jordan Valley. This is a trough-like depression, varying in width from 2 to 15 miles and running in a north-to-south direction. The Jordan Valley region can be divided into three subdivisions: (1) The western rim of the rift, a barren, rainless area which contains only scattered patches of cultivation, in its northern part. (2) The Jordan Valley itself, extending from the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee to the northern shore of the Dead Sea. This consists of very good land, suitable for intensive farm­ ing under irrigation. (3) The eastern rim of the rift, a precipitous area which, except in the north, does not receive enough rain for cultivation; crops are, however, grown under irrigation in some of the valleys formed by seasonal or perennial streams flowing into the Jordan. The main tributary of the Jordan is the Jarmuk, which close to its junction with the Jordan forms the boundary between Syria to the northeast, Israel to the northwest, and Jordan to the south. Upon reaching Jordanian territory (coming from Israel) the River Jordan twists and winds its way amid dense shrubs and bushes toward the Dead Sea in which it terminates. This northern section of the gorge is called in Arabic al-Ghor. The Jordan Valley is characterized by warm and short winters with little rain (up to 15 inches annually in its northern part, and up to 10 inches close to the Dead Sea); by very hot, dry, and long summers; and by a relatively great number of very dry khamsin (sirocco) days occurring mostly in the spring and more rarely and mildly in the fall. During the khamsin days, which are felt as far west as the Mediterranean seashore, a desert wind blows from the east and brings with it fine desert

Road through the hills of Jordan View of Nablus

King Husayn decorating one of his legionnaires

Street scene in Amman

THE LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

dust, causing the temperature to rise above 1200F and the humidity to diminish sharply. The Dead Sea occupies the central portion of the depression. It is the deepest point on earth, its surface being 1,290 feet below sea level while its bottom, in its larger northern basin, is 2,598 feet below sea level, making this part of the Dead Sea 1,308 feet deep. The completely barren, marly Lisan Peninsula, jutting into the Dead Sea from the east, divides it into a larger and deeper northern basin and a smaller and very shallow south­ ern basin, the average depth of which is about 10 feet. The total length of the Dead Sea from north to south is about 55 miles, and its width from east to west is 10 miles. The Dead Sea is an inland lake without outlet, and its water level is maintained as a result of the balance between the inflowing waters of the Jordan River and of a number of smaller wadis (streams) from the east on the one hand, and the loss due to evaporation on the other. Owing to the very high temperature through most of the year, the rate of evaporation from the Dead Sea is very high; it has been estimated at half an inch, or a total of 8.5 million tons, of water per day. The rainfall (less than 5 inches an­ nually) is negligible. The mineral content (magnesium chloride, sodium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, and magnesium bromide) of the Dead Sea is very high, more than 27 per cent by weight near the surface, increasing to more than 33 per cent near the bottom. Owing to this high concentration of minerals in the water, no animal or plant life can exist in the Dead Sea, hence the name bestowed on it in antiquity by the Romans. The older Hebrew name of the Dead Sea was the Salt Sea. The water of the Dead Sea feels oily to the touch, and due to its unusual weight even people unable to swim can easily float in it. The soil on the narrow plain at the northern end of the Dead Sea is also saturated with salt to such an extent that it supports practically no natural vegetation. Cultivation here is possible only after a costly process of washing down the salt content of the topsoil with sweet water which has to be brought from the Jordan. South of the Dead Sea the depression, here called Wadi Araba, rises gradually until it reaches sea level about halfway to the Gulf of Aqaba. This region consists of barren desert and

THE LAND AND

THE PEOPLE

is of no agricultural value, although its mineral resources are appreciable. The West Bank, which constitutes about 6 per cent of the total area of the Kingdom of Jordan, is divided by the Jerusalem corridor of Israel into a larger northern bulge (comprising roughly the historical Samaria), and a smaller southern bulge (Judaea). The central part of Samaria is a deeply dissected up­ land region with altitudes reaching 3,000 feet and with foot­ hills falling down toward the east into the Jordan Valley and subsiding toward the west into the Sharon Plain (which is part of Israel). Practically the only rock types exposed are lime­ stone and chalky marl, with a few basalt dykes. Springs are not numerous and settlement is confined to the bigger valleys, with the uplands utilized only as pastures. Judaea is a barren, unbroken upland plateau, with few diversifying elements. The general impression is one of a karst country. As in Samaria, limestone and chalky marl are the predominant rock series, frequently appearing without any soil cover. Wide expanses of bare rock, numerous scattered boulders and scree, and occasional small valleys etched in the hill slopes, often dry and waterless, with caves and underground drainage —these are the characteristics of the Judaean landscape. Vegeta­ tion rarely consists of more than patches of scrub and thorns. In the Samarian hills olives and grapes are the leading crops and cereals, figs, and citrus are also grown. On the dry leeward side of the hills, the grazing of sheep and goats assumes im­ portance. On the Judaean plateau adequate soil coverage is rare, but where it exists it is of good quality. Cereals, fruits, and vegetables are grown and the slopes are frequently planted to olive trees. Several of the main towns of the West Bank form an almost straight line from north to south in the very middle of the up­ lands: Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem (Jordanian sector), Bethlehem, and Hebron. To the east of this line lies the Judaean Desert, which is bare and dusty, practically uninhabited, and in which only nomads can subsist and even they only with dif­ ficulty. Only where springs supply enough water for the irriga­ tion of small, intensively cultivated patches, such as in the town of Jericho, is an occasional oasis found in this area. The climate of the West Bank hill country is similar to that of the eastern

THE LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

plateau: short, cool, rainy winters (with occasional snowfall in the mountains) alternate with long, hot, dry summers. THE PEOPLE

Population Distribution

The basic division of the territory of Jordan into desert and sown is reflected in a corresponding division of the population into the nomads and the settled. The nomads live in the desert, the settled people in the sown, or cultivated, land. The true desert (with less than 4 inches of rainfall annually) is the home of the camel-nomads; the steppe-belt, in general, is the abode of the sheep- and goat-nomads. The settled population falls into two quite different groups, a rural and an urban, each of which will be dealt with in some detail in later chapters. The geographical distribution of the population in Jordan is a TABLE 1 SUMMARY OF CLIMATIC REGIONS OF JORDAN Tempera­ tures

Region

Rainfall and Humidity

alestine Hills

20" and over, relatively humid

Mild, even, Relatively rhythmic low

Diurnal-after­ noon on shore (from west). Morning off­ shore from east

6 to 7 months of rainfall, year long if irrigated

Winter cereals, grapes and olives, vegetables, pro­ ductive irrigated farming

>rdan Valley

Less than 2" to 5", very low humid­ ity

Hot, low latitude, desert type

Relatively fitful

Virtually no rainfall farm­ ing season, year long if irrigated

Low productivity grazing and po­ tentially produc­ tive irrigation

ransjordan plateau

12" to over 20", humid in winter, arid in

Relatively Moderately cool to high moderate

Relatively high

S to 6 months of rainfall, about 9 to 10 months frost free

Fairly productive rainfall farming. Highly productive irrigated farming

'ransition to desert

4" to 12" arid

Mild to warm

High

High

4 to S months of rainfall, 9 to 10 months frost free

Submarginal, very poor dry farming

)esert

Less than Iw to 4"

Warm to hot

Very high

Very high

2 to 3 months of rainfall. Farming, 9 to 10 with irri­ gation

No farming, poor winter grazing, and non-use

Evapora­ tion

Very high

Wind Movement

Crowing Season

Agriculture

Source: Phillips, Paul Grounds, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Prolegomena to a Technical Assistance t The University of Chicago, Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 34, Chicago, 1954.

yTogram

THE

LAND AND

THE

PEOPLE

result of the rainfall pattern. Only the northwestern corner of the country, on both banks of the Jordan River, receives suf­ ficient rainfall for regular cultivation; consequently, the over­ whelming majority of the population is concentrated in this section. The total area of this corner of Jordan is about 5,000 square miles, within which there are about 1,775 square miles under cultivation. Taking the cultivated area as a basis, one finds here a population density of about 780 per square mile, which is quite a high density in relation to other agrarian coun­ tries. The greatest density is found on the West Bank. The three West Bank districts of Nablus, Jerusalem, and Hebron ac­ counted in 1954 for 56 per cent of the total population of Jordan, or about 780,000 persons. The three northwestern dis­ tricts of the East Bank—Ajlun, Belqa, and Amman—contained a population of about 530,000. Another 90,000 persons lived in the districts of Karak and Maan, to the south of Amman, directly east of the Dead Sea and of the Wadi Araba. The remaining 30,000 square miles of Jordan, to the east of these districts, are desert and have practically no permanently settled population. The nomadic tribes which utilize major parts of the desert as winter grazing grounds spend the summer months near the cultivated land, and count as its inhabitants. The total population of Jordan by the 1952 census was given as 1,329,000 (including the refugees). Subsequent official esti­ mates show a population increase of about 2 per cent per year, so that the 1958 population can be estimated as being ap­ proximately 1.5 million. The most significant fact with regard to the growth of Jordan's population is the trebling of its number as a result of the Arab-Israeli war and the annexation of the West Bank. Prior to 1948, although no official census had ever been carried out in Transjordan, it was estimated that the Transjordanian popula­ tion numbered about 400,000. To them were added some 400,000 residents of the West Bank and another 450,000 refugees. Natural increase accounted since 1948 for an addi­ tional 20 per cent. In 1958, therefore, the total population of Jordan consisted of the following major components:

THE KINGDOM OF JORDAN

THE LAND AND

THE PEOPLE

TABLE 2 POPULATION OF JORDAN A. BY RESIDENCE,

Residents Refugees Total

West Bank 450,000 365,000

Total 1,005,000 497,000

687,000

815,000

1,502,000

B. BY ORIGIN

Transjordanians

555,000

Palestinians

947,000

Total

1958

East Bank 555,000 132,000

1,502,000

C. BY ECOLOGY

Nomads and semi-nomads Villagers Town dwellers Refugees in camps Arab Legion Total

D. BY DISTRICTS AND SUBDISTRICTS,

District Amman Belqa

Subdistrict Salt Madaba

Ajlun Irbid Ajlun Jarash Kura Karak Karak Tafila Maan Maan Aqaba Jerusalem Jerusalem Ramallah Bethlehem Jericho Nablus Nablus Jenin Tulkarm Hebron

220,000 748,000 368,000 136,000 30,000

1,502,000

1954

Population 202,313 97,533 68,278 29,255 227,607 149,023 28,519 28,424 21,641 63,088 43,158 19,930 29,801 24,829 4,972 316,928 89,833 115,548 59,069 52,478 332,696 161,807 84,555 86,334 132,661 Total

1,402,627

Source: Annual Statistical Yearbook of the Jordanian Ministry of Economy, De­ partment of Statistics, 19S4, p. 1.

THE

LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

East Bank - West Bank One of the basic cultural features of the Kingdom of Jordan is the difference between the old residents of the East Bank (that is, the old Emirate and later Kingdom of Transjordan) and the people of the West Bank (that part of former Manda­ tory Palestine which was annexed by King Abdullah, whether at present they still reside in Western Jordan or have moved to the East Bank). The great majority of the residents of both Banks are Sunni Muslim Arabs, that is, they belong to the same culture group on the basis of religion and language. With regard to descent and historical antecedents, however, there are definite differ­ ences between the population of the two Banks. The people of the East Bank are largely descendants of those nomadic tribes who throughout the ages have sallied forth from the Arabian Desert either to establish their tribal wandering territories within the present-day boundaries of Jordan, or to settle down in vil­ lages and towns close to the eastern shore of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. The people of the West Bank, although they too have a nomadic component in their ancestry, are of a much more varied origin. Canaanites and Hebrews, Syrians and Greeks, Romans and Byzantines—all the ethnic groups who invaded and settled in Palestine in the long pre-Islamic history of the country—have contributed to the racial picture of the West Bank. During the thirteen centuries of Islamic influence over the West Bank, most of these ethnic elements were blended into what later became the Sunni Muslim majority of the coun­ try; as a lasting result of these heterogeneous racial antecedents, the range of physical types exhibited by the population is much wider than among the peoples of the East Bank. Variations in physical (racial) traits, however, play but a subordinate role in the consciousness of the people of Jordan. Anthropology The differences in origin of the population of Jordan are re­ flected to this day in the physical types found in the country. The people of the desert, the nomadic and semi-nomadic Bedouins, exhibit physical characteristics which distinguish

THE LAND AND

THE PEOPLE

them from the settled population, and especially from the urbanites. The typical Jordanian Bedouin is a slender and wiry Mediterranean who averages only 5 feet 4 inches in height. His head is narrow, covered with coarse dark brown or black hair, or occasionally with reddish-brown hair. The color of his eyes ranges from dark to light brown. Although he is a member of the Caucasian or White stock, his skin is light or medium brown, with one out of three exhibiting a yellow-brown or red-brown skin color. His face is of moderate proportions and is often thin, with the thin curved nose commonly associated with the desert Arab. This "hawk-faced" appearance is relatively common, especially among the aristocratic families. The other type has a broader and straighter nose, possibly even a concave one, a somewhat coarser and broader face, and slightly thicker lips. In the desert tribes there seems to be a ratio of two to one in favor of the "hawk-faced" type. On the desert fringes and in the settled areas the population is mixed and other characteristics become more common. The long face and long broad-beaked nose of the Irano-Afghan type; the tall, muscular, and rangy figure, and coarser, blunter face of the Atlanto-Mediterranean; the blue and grey eyes, the traces of red and red-blond hair, and the laterally compressed cheeks and noses of the Nordic; the short stocky bodies, round heads, broad faces, and medium straight to concave noses of the Al­ pine—all these are likely to appear in varying combination and in relatively slight proportion among people who are mostly desert Arab in type. The large influx of Palestinian Arab ref­ ugees into Jordan has, in all probability, increased the per­ centages of the northern intrusive elements in the settled areas. Ethnic Groups

The term "ethnic group" may refer to a distinct racial group­ ing or else to a group whose distinction is not racial but cultural. In this second sense an ethnic group is generally conceived to be one whose members share a distinctive social and cultural tradi­ tion maintained within the group from generation to generation. In Jordan (as in the neighboring Arab states) the distinctive social and cultural tradition of the country's constituent culture

THE

LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

groups can be characterized in the first place as religious, religion being by far the most important single cultural factor making for in-group coherence as well as for intergroup differences and tensions. Next to religion, language may play a definite role in group consciousness, although in the Kingdom of Jordan in recent years a definite trend for Arabic to replace the traditional tongues of the cultural minorities can be observed. A third fac­ tor making for the separation of one ethnic group from another is the persistence of traditions regarding the history of the group; members of an ethnic group may feel that they are dif­ ferent from other groups because they come from a definite place or are descendants of a definite tribe. For lack of a better term, this factor may be called the "descent factor." In addition to these differences in religion, language, and descent within Jordan (as in neighboring Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria) the total population falls into three distinct ecological groups: nomads, villagers, and townspeople, who also form three disparate culture groups. These groups will be described in later chapters. Qays and Yaman

An important division of the population of Jordan, cutting across religious, ethnic, and ecological lines, is the split into Qays and Yaman. In Arabia, this split goes back to pre-Islamic times, while in Palestine and Transjordan it was introduced with the Arab conquest of this area. Some of the tribes who lived here had the tradition of being of Qaysi, or Northern, or Nizarite, or Maaddite, or Adnani, or Ishmaelite descent; other tribes who pene­ trated the country at the time of the conquest traced their origin to South Arabia, and were called Yamani, or Qahtani (the Arab form of the Biblical name Yoqtan, Genesis 10:25) or Beni Kalb tribes. The two factions introduced into Palestine and Transjordan their traditionally inimical attitude toward each other, and soon, as a result of their influence, the entire population of the area sided either with the one or the other. True to the traditional Middle Eastern outlook, political af­ filiation expressed itself in the assumption of descent ties, and thus the population of Palestine and Transjordan (as well as of

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

Syria) was divided into those who regarded themselves as descendants of Qaysi or Northern tribes, and those who reck­ oned themselves as Yamani or Southern tribes. The Qays-Yaman rivalry in the Syria-Palestine-Transjordan area embraced the settled as well as the nomadic population, the Muslims as well as the Christians and the Druzes, often being nourished by old tribal feuds and local competitions and strifes which had existed before the Arab conquest. The di­ vision of the villages into Qays and Yaman groupings gave rise to differences in costume and custom, in tradition and even in dialect, and resulted in many bloody wars which demanded thousands of victims. As late as the 19th century bitter wars were fought in Palestine and Syria between Qays and Yaman, and the age-old antagonism is recognizable to this very day, although recently it appears as a political and social division. Bethlehem, for instance, is a Yamani town; its Muslim as well as Christian inhabitants consider themselves of Yamani, or Southern, descent. Hebron, on the other hand, is a Qaysi town, and as a result of this situation, up to the 20th century these two towns frequently fought against each other. Even to­ day the tension between Qaysi and Yamani villages of the area continues to be a factor to be reckoned with. Religious, Linguistic, and Descent Groups

While with regard to ecology and cultural background con­ siderable differences exist between the population of the West Bank and of the East Bank of Jordan, the country is fairly homogeneous from the point of view of language and religion. Most Jordanians speak Arabic, and their religion is Muslim, Sunni Islam of the Shafii rite to be more precise. Thus about nine out of ten Jordanians share a Muslim Arab body of tradi­ tions. As a result of the growth of the national consciousness in the population, the differences which in the past have separated the Christian Arab minority in Transjordan and Palestine from the Muslim Arab majority are gradually diminishing. The same trend is discernible among the non-Arab Muslim minorities in Jordan, among whom the linguistic-ethnic differences tend to diminish under the impact of nationalist propaganda. Lack of statistics makes it virtually impossible to give a

THE LAND AND THE

PEOPLE

reliable estimate of the number of Jordanian minorities. It is generally assumed that the members of the various Christian denominations together number about 100,000. Most of these have lived for many generations in several towns of the East Bank (Salt, Karak, Madaba) and of the West Bank (Bethlehem and Ramallah) in which they have constituted the absolute majority. A smaller part of the Jordanian Christian Arabs live in villages, many of them around Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Ramallah. In addition to these settled Christian Arabs, there are in Jordan (on the East Bank) Christian Arab nomadic tribes (recently tending to become semi-nomadic) having no counterpart in any other Arab country. For instance, among the Karak tribes (partly settled in Karak town) there is a group called el-Masihiyin or el-Nasara (both names meaning Chris­ tians), subdivided into nine sub-tribes, numbering several hun­ dred families and professing partly the Greek Orthodox and partly the Roman Catholic faith. The social organization, cus­ toms, and way of life of these Christian tribes are almost in­ distinguishable from the Muslim tribes. The higher degree of urbanization of the Christian Arabs as compared with the Muslim Arab majority is related to a number of differences between the two groups. First of all, urban resi­ dence means that among the Christian Arabs there is a higher percentage of people engaged in non-agricultural occupations, such as commerce, crafts and industries, white-collar work (offices, etc.), governmental service, professions, etc. Second, greater concentration in these occupations means, on the aver­ age, a better income and thus a higher socio-economic position. In addition to these differences, the Christian Arabs are, on the whole, better educated than the Muslims and have a higher literacy rate. Especially pronounced is the difference in educa­ tion between the women of the two groups. For lack of recent statistics we have to fall back on data made public for Palestine, where, in the last few years of the British Mandatory rule (up to 1947), 95-97 per cent of Muslim women were illiterate as against only 55 per cent of Christian Arab women; the male illiteracy among Muslims was 75 per cent, and among the Christian Arabs only 30 per cent. To send their children to schools maintained by various European and American Chris-

THE LAND AND

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tian missions was a tradition of several generations among the Christian Arabs of Palestine; in 1944, 89 per cent of the schoolage population (aged 6 to 14) among the Christian children attended school, as against only 25 per cent of the same age group among the Muslims. In Palestine in 1945 the birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, and natural increase were all considerably lower among the Christians than among the Mus­ lims, and, correspondingly, life expectancy was 8 to 10 years longer among the Christians. Such a differential trend, if it continues, will result in the gradual reduction of the relative number of the Christians in the total population. Also, the ruralurban migratory trend is stronger among the Christians than among the Muslims, which has resulted in the reduction of the Christian majority of several villages into a minority (e.g., in Bir Zet and Abud on the West Bank). We tend to speak of the Christian Arabs in Jordan as an undifferentiated group. In fact, however, there are certain internal differences which follow more or less sectarian lines. In very general terms it can be stated that among the Christian Arabs the Greek Orthodox are most similar to the Muslims in mode of life as well as in outlook, and in all characteristics with respect to which we found differences between the two. Less pronounced is the similarity between the Muslims and the Greek Catholics, the Roman Catholics, and the other splinter groups who belong to the so-called "uniate" churches. The most progressive and Westernized element are undoubtedly the Arab Protestants. The largest Christian Arab community is the Greek Orthodox (in Arabic Rum Ortodoks), numbering about 50,000 in Jordan. The Greek Orthodox Church, which is the largest and most important Christian Church in the entire Middle East, has no single head comparable to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church, but is organized into several independent geographical districts, each one of which is headed by a Patriarch. Thus the Jordanian Greek Orthodox community is headed by the Patri­ arch of Jerusalem, who is also the head of the Greek Orthodox community in Israel. He is independent of, and equal in rank to, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, etc. The upper clergy of the Jerusalem Patriarchate is Greek, the

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lower clergy Arab. The ritual of the Church is in Arabic and Greek. The Greek Catholic (or Melkite; in Arabic Rum Katolik) community in Jordan is part of the Greek Catholic Church of the Middle East (total membership estimated at 150,000), all of whom speak Arabic. The Church is headed by the "Patri­ arch of Antiochia, Jerusalem and Alexandria" who resides either in Syria or in Lebanon or in Egypt. Both the higher and the lower clergy of this Church are Arabs, and the language of their ritual is Arabic with a very few remnants of Greek. The origin of this Church goes back to the 18th century, when part of the Greek Orthodox Church "united" with Rome (hence the name "uniate"), recognizing the supremacy of the Pope but re­ taining a certain autonomy. The Roman Catholic (or Latin) Church in Jordan and Palestine originated in the days of the Crusades. It is subject to the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem who is appointed by Rome and is subordinate to the Apostolic Nuncio, an emis­ sary of the Pope whose domain includes Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Eritrea. The ritual of this Church is always in Latin. Some 15,000 Arabs following the Latin rite live in Jerusalem, Bethle­ hem, and Ramallah. The Protestant Arabs of Jordan (falling into several de­ nominations) are all young communities which came into being as the result of missionary activities carried out in the country by European and American religious organizations for over a hundred years. It is an interesting fact that practically all the members of these congregations were recruited from among the membership of the older Christian Churches in the country; that is, the existence of these churches is the result of conversion from the Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic (Latin), etc., churches. The conversion of Muslim Arabs to Christianity (either to one of the old churches or to one of the new Protestant churches) has been extremely rare. The non-Arab Christians in Jordan are few in numbers. They include a few hundred Armenians, most of whom belong to the Armenian Orthodox (or Gregorian) Church, with a minority following the Armenian Catholic Church. The Armenians are bilingual, speaking Armenian at home and Arabic elsewhere. A

THE LAND AND THE

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few hundred (or possibly up to 1,000) Nestorians or As­ syrians live mostly in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and use a Syriac liturgy. The small Syrian Orthodox (or Jacobite) Church in Jordan also has a Syriac liturgy. Added to these are some 2,000 to 3,000 European Catholics, mostly members of reli­ gious orders such as Franciscans, Carmelites, Dominicans, Benedictines, etc., and a smaller number of European and American Protestant religious personnel stationed more or less permanently in the country. An important non-Arab Muslim minority in Jordan is that of the Circassians. These number about 12,000 and are the descendants of Muslim tribes who emigrated from the Caucasus following its conquest by the Russians in the 19th century and in particular after the Berlin Congress of 1878. The Turkish Sultan Abd al-Hamid, in conformity with the traditional policy of the Ottoman Empire to afford protection to Muslims ail over the world, accepted these Circassian refugees and settled them in Transjordan in the vicinity of Amman as well as the Jolan area near al-Qunaytra. It was also the Sultan's intention to have faithful adherents in these areas to counterbalance the seditious Bedouin. The colonists were to be pioneers in every sense, for they had to introduce not only their ploughs where nomad Arabs had been content to pasture, but also, in the eighties, their own government and police; neither in the Jolan nor in the Belqa did the Turkish government organize perma­ nently its own administration or garrisons until 1895. The lands assigned to them were mostly government property according to Ottoman law, since they had been neither taxed nor tilled previously. But the nomads and half-settled Arab villagers held, of course, that the lands so disposed of were theirs, and accord­ ingly local enmity for the colonists was assured from the outset. The Turkish government consistently supported the Circassians, rounding up more than once on their behalf an irreconcilable tribe or clan, as, for example, the Abbad Arabs near Salt, or a section of the Beni Hasan near Jerash, and sending it to cool its passions west of the Jordan or in the Eastern Desert, thus en­ abling the Circassians to hold on. It was these Circassians who re-founded Amman, where many of them (around 2,000) still live. With the Circassians

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came a smaller group of Chechens, another Caucasian Muslim tribe, who number about 1,000 in Jordan. While the Circassians are Sunni Muslims (mostly of the Hanafi school), the Chechen are Shiite Muslims. Wadi Sir (with a population of 2,000), Jerash (1,500), and Naur (500) are Circassian settlements to this day; Chechens live in Suwaylih (400), Rusayfa (1,500), Zerqa (200), Sukhne (100), and Azraq. Although the Circassians have become cultivators in Jordan (as well as in Syria, where a larger number of them were set­ tled), certain characteristics differentiate them from their Arab fellahin neighbors. On their farms they practice weeding, uti­ lize wooden rakes, harrows, and scythes, use wagons for trans­ portation, do not employ their women in agricultural labor, use stables for their horses and sheds for their cows; many of them specialize as masons, joiners, blacksmiths; their houses are widely spaced, whitewashed, and built in a modern style; they wear their own distinctive garb; like to eat meat; practice ceremonial abduction of brides; show no emotions in case of death (neither men nor women); the eldest son inherits all property; etc.—all customs and practices different from those of their Arab neighbors. Also, they lay greater stress on educa­ tion, and literacy is more frequent among them. Lately, however, a tendency to assimilate to the Arabs has become noticeable among them, in such matters as language (they had previously spoken their own language) and way of life. Intermarriage with Arabs has begun, although for the time being only between Circassian men and Arab women—as is usual between a socially superior and an inferior ethnic group. At the same time, a tendency toward assimilation to European customs is evident among the Circassians. The younger people, for instance, tend to exchange their old national costume for European-style clothing. In Nablus some 200 Samaritans are found, although their number diminishes rapidly as a result of their recent trend to migrate to neighboring Israel. The Samaritans are the remnant of an ancient religious community which has lived in Palestine ever since the 8th century B.C. They are a Jewish sect who adhere strictly to Biblical and Hebrew religion. They have their

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own version of the Pentateuch, or Torah, the Five Books of Moses, written in their own Samaritan alphabet and showing slight textual variations from the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Jewish Synagogue. The Samaritans observe the Biblical sacrifice of the Pascal lamb, and reject all post-Biblical de­ velopments of Judaism. Of the Turcoman tribes who lived in Jordan, the majority left when the Ottoman troops evacuated the country at the end of the First World War; hence the only remaining Turcoman settlement is in the village of Rammun near Jerash. Most of the Druzes, who sought refuge in Transjordan dur­ ing the Druze rebellion of 1925-1927, were subsequently repa­ triated, and only a very few of them remained in the country. In the small settlement of Adasiya in the Jordan Valley, a few miles south of the Sea of Galilee, lives a group of Bahais, members of a sect which split off from Shiite Islam in the 19th century. Officially the Kingdom of Jordan does not recognize the existence of "minorities" in the sense in which this term has been defined by the United Nations. In a reply sent by the gov­ ernment of Jordan to a questionnaire of the UNESCO subcom­ mittee on minorities (dated February 1, 1951) it is stated that "there are no minorities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and all Jordanians, whatever the differences in origin, religion or language, are equal before the law . . ." and that, there­ fore, groups which would need protection through special na­ tional and international measures do not exist in Jordan.

2. JORDAN: PAST AND PRESENT Early History MAN first appeared in the area which today forms the territory of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan at least 200,000 years ago. This is the estimated age of the oldest stone artifacts found so far in Palestine and Transjordan. Fifty thousand years later, human skulls and skeletons are added to the stone implements found on prehistoric sites; they attest a racial intermingling be­ tween the older Neanderthal Man and a younger, more ad­ vanced type, belonging to Cro-Magnon Man, the ancestor of modern man. Caves and mounds tell the fascinating story of prehistoric man's progress from one stage of technological and cultural development to the next. The old primitive stone imple­ ments give way to more advanced ones until, some 8,000 years ago, building concentrations begin to appear as best typified by Neolithic (New Stone Age) Jericho. In the Neolithic period (about 6000 to 4500 B.C.) the peo­ ple of Transjordan produced giant stone structures (the socalled megaliths) whose monumental dimensions contributed in later ages to legends about an extinct race of giants. Toward the end of the fifth millennium B.C. copper began to appear as the basic material used for tools and weapons. Simultaneously, great forward strides took place in art and religion. This was the beginning of the Bronze Age (about 3200 to 2100 B.C.) which saw the development of cities and city states, of agri­ cultural and pastoral skills, of arts and crafts, of a complex mythology and religion, and of a syllabic script—one in which each sign stood for a syllable. The language of this period was a predecessor of the South Canaanite, of which the Hebrew of the Bible was a close relative. The second pre-Christian millennium was the period during which Abraham and his family roamed the Palestinian uplands (19th to 18th centuries B.C.) and the Egyptians first conquered Palestine (16th century B.C.). This was the time of the famous Amarna letters (15th and 14th century B.C.) written by Pal-

THE DENSITY OF POPULATION Each dot represents 1,000 rural people; symbols represent urban concentration

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estinian local potentates in Accadian, the lingua franca of the day, to their Egyptian overlords. In the 13th century B.C., sev­ eral Semitic-speaking peoples occupied Transjordan and estab­ lished there the Kingdoms of Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Amori, and Bashan in Gilead. A century later followed the incursion of the Hebrew tribes, who settled on both banks of the Jordan. The remote and semi-legendary period of the Hebrew patri­ archs, all of whom are honored as "prophets" by Muslim tradi­ tion, left an indelible impression on Jordanian Arab folklore and folk belief. At Hebron is the burial place of Abraham and his family, and the town itself is called Halil, i.e., Friend, after Abraham the Friend of God. At Nablus is shown the well which tradition associates with Joseph. Wadi Musa suggests the rock struck by Moses at the command of God to bring forth water for the thirsting Israelites. Close to the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea is the shrine regarded by Muslim tradition as the tomb of Moses at which a great celebration takes place every spring. Petra is regarded as the burial place of Aaron—Jebel Harun. Many more places on both banks of the Jordan are haunted by echoes of Biblical times. In remarkable contrast, the Greek and Roman periods, which began with the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great, left few traces in the memory of the people. The ruins of proud Hellenistic and Roman cities still testify to their artistic, tech­ nological, and religious civilization, but the Greek and Roman way of life and way of thinking has never become an integral part of the folk consciousness. The Nabataean culture, which was a mixture of Arabian and Greco-Roman elements, and the ten-city alliance of the Hellenistic Decapolis, also disappeared into the mists of the past, leaving behind little else beside dustcovered ruins. For the Western world, the most important event in the history of the area that comprises Jordan was the coming of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent growth of Christianity. The Byzantine period, during which Christianity became the domi­ nant religion in the area, is still in a limited way part of con­ temporary life in Jordan, surviving in the Eastern Christian sects whose religion ultimately goes back to Byzantine doctrines and rites.

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The decisive historical events, however, which more than anything that either preceded or followed them molded the character of Jordan as it appears in the 20th century, were the Arab conquest (in 633 to 636) and the subsequent rapid Islamization of the population. Ever since Arabic became the language of the country and Islam the religion of the great majority of the people, the population has never ceased to be identified with the Arab-Muslim culture which was introduced from Arabia into the Eastern Mediterranean. So strong was this identification that cultural influences brought to bear on the people by subsequent non-Muslim or non-Arab conquerors were not able to introduce any signif­ icant modifications in their established way of life, their think­ ing, their attitudes, and their values. Thus, from a broad his­ torical perspective, the Crusaders' century-long domination of major parts of Palestine and Transjordan (largely in the 12th century) was merely a passing event. While for the Franks the Crusades meant the absorption of lasting Middle Eastern cul­ tural influences, for the Arabs they were nothing more than a brief first encounter with the Western Christian world. The Ottoman Turkish rule which lasted for four centuries (1517— 1917) was only partly alien—the Turks, like the Arabs, being Muslims. Nevertheless the Turkish influence was negligible, and the country, as in the case of Syria and Lebanon, received neither colonists from that source nor any appreciable influx of Turkish blood. It is impossible in a few paragraphs or pages to give even the barest outlines of the many historical ups and downs experi­ enced by the people of the area covered today by the Kingdom of Jordan. The area lies along an important highway connect­ ing Syria and adjoining lands in the north with Arabia and Egypt in the south; as such, it was frequently conquered and held by outside powers, not primarily for its own value but for the sake of the strategic and political advantages it afforded. These periodic incursions, changes of overlordship, battles fought on their territory, and ruthless exploitations denuded the country and reduced its people to great poverty and to an outlook of resignation which was interspersed with the tradi­ tional outlet of an oppressed people's desperation—brigandage

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and violence. Recurrent famines, epidemics, petty wars, and short-lived uprisings characterized conditions on both banks of the Jordan well into the 19th century. The Nineteenth Century and the First World War During the entire 19th century the territory of Transjordan represented a stagnant backwater rarely touched by the turbulent flow of events to the west of the Jordan River. Even the Turkish administration had little influence on Transjordanian life, with the exception of the more densely settled northwestern corner between the Jordan and the Yarmuk rivers. In the rest of the country, largely unsettled and uncultivated, nomadic life con­ tinued unchanged, as in previous centuries, with practically no interference on the part of the Turkish authorities. The Turks were not able either to collect taxes or to insist on military service among the Bedouins, whose great mobility could put them within a few days far beyond the reach of Turkish forces. To all practical purposes, therefore, the nomadic population of Transjordan—constituting to the end of the 19th century the great majority of all the inhabitants of the area—remained independent of any external political or administrative authority and knew no allegiance but loyalty to tribe and shaykh (sheikh). In the northwestern corner of Transjordan, as well as in what today constitutes the West Bank, the situation was different. Here, a considerable part of the population was settled, living in villages and working the land. These people were at the mercy of the Turkish authorities, their tax collectors and agents; short of escaping into the desert, where they would have to face hunger, thirst, and Bedouin hostility, their only road to survival was to submit and to get accustomed to, if not recon­ ciled with, Turkish oppression and exploitation. In these two vastly different historical experiences lies much of the explana­ tion of the contrasting personality and mentality that char­ acterize the fellahin on the one hand and the Bedouin on the other. The urban population of the West Bank, and especially that of Jerusalem, in the course of the 19th century got its first glimpse of Europeans since the long-past days of the Crusades. What a difference between the two encounters! In the days of

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the Crusades the Franks appeared to the highly civilized urban Arabs as uncultured barbarians who fought their way into their midst much as the northern barbarians did into Italy half a millennium earlier. Whatever the outcome of battles, whatever the situation with regard to political hegemony, there could be no doubt but that the supremacy of Arab culture would assert itself and that the traditional Arab way of life would not be en­ dangered by the encounter with the Franks. In the 19th century, however, the descendants of the Crusaders appeared at the gates of Palestine and other parts of the Ottoman Empire as representatives of a culture which in its material aspects seemed vastly superior to that of the descendants of the Saracens, set back by six centuries of Mamluk and Turkish misgovernment, oppression, and exploitation. Moreover, this time the new Franks came with the approval of the Ottoman government, in possession of numerous rights and concessions embodied in the "capitulations," which gave every foreigner a privileged status as compared to the limited freedom enjoyed by the Arab sub­ jects of the Sublime Porte. The European (and later American) merchant, financier, concessionaire, consular and other official, missionary, doctor, and teacher therefore had the backing of a new prestige which gradually made them and the way of life they represented worthy of emulation in the eyes of the urban Arab middle and upper class. Thus the 19th century penetra­ tion of the Europeans, peaceful instead of warlike, constituted a threat to the survival of traditional Muslim Arab culture the like of which it had never before faced. In Palestine and Transjordan especially, the British, French, and Russians made their presence felt. The banks came under British and French control, with all that this implied in the manipulation of currency and credit. The Russian influence was strong in the religious and educational fields, especially among the Orthodox Christian Arabs. The few large mercantile institutions, the principal mining concessions, and the rudi­ mentary public utilities were owned and controlled by foreigners. Italy appeared on the Palestinian scene somewhat later with religious, educational, and medical institutions. Following the visit of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II in Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Damascus in 1898, the concession for the

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Baghdad Railway, running across Syria, was given to a German company. Subsequently, German engineers built, and com­ pleted in 1908, the Hijaz railway, connecting Constantinople with Medina in Arabia and passing through Transjordan close to the ancient King's Highway. This railroad was one of the first Western technological miracles with which the settled and nomadic population of Transjordan gained firsthand acquaint­ ance. In 1831 and 1832, Ibrahim, son of Mehemet (Muhammad) Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, conquered Palestine and Syria for his father, and established himself in Damascus. He invited repre­ sentatives of European powers to Damascus and devoted him­ self to the revival of commerce and industry. The Jordan Valley was intensively cultivated with plantations. Simultane­ ously, he increased the taxes and in 1834 ordered a conscript levy on all the inhabitants of the country, a move which led to widespread uprisings. The people of Nablus revolted, Hebron and Bethlehem joined in the rebellion, numerous Transjordanian tribes crossed the Jordan, and some 40,000 fellahin attacked Jerusalem, penetrated the city, and looted it for five or six days. Ibrahim came up from Jaffa to relieve the city, defeating the rebels in Jerusalem, and then in Nablus, Bethlehem, and Hebron. Many rebels escaped to Transjordan, but were pursued by Ibrahim and finally annihilated at Karak, whose old fortifica­ tions were seriously damaged in the battle. During Ibrahim's rule Western influences increased in Pal­ estine. In 1835 an Irishman, Costigan, made the first attempt to navigate the Jordan River down to the Dead Sea. In 1837 G. H. Moore and W. G. Baker conducted explorations of the Dead Sea. In 1838 the American archaeologist Edward Robin­ son began his famous Biblical researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petraea. In 1840-1841 Major Scott and Captain Symonds of the British Admiralty surveyed the Syrian coast and the Dead Sea. In 1839 the first foreign consul, a Britisher, was appointed in Jerusalem to replace the British vice-consul, whose office had been held by an Italian. By 1865 Prussia, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, the United States, and Mexico had consulates in Jerusalem. In 1840 the British came to the aid of Turkey against

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Mehemet Ali, attacked and captured Acre, and embarked upon the "liberation" of Palestine from the yoke of the Egyptian vice­ roy. The restless Palestinians rebelled again, Nablus rose, the garrison in Jerusalem was massacred, and Ibrahim was forced to retreat eastward across the Jordan. He took refuge in Karak, where he was surrounded by the Bedouins. He succeeded in breaking through, reached Gaza with the remnant of his army, and thence crossed into Egypt on February 16, 1841. This ended Mehemet Ali's ten-year rule over Palestine, although he succeeded in retaining his vice-royalty over Egypt. Despotism gave way in Palestine to anarchy. The heads of the Abu Ghosh family, for instance, lords of the village of Abu Ghosh to the west of Jerusalem (today in Israel), engaged in unbridled brigandry, waylaying and murdering travelers and even government officials, or at least exacting tributes from them, and threatening the impotent pasha of Jerusalem with attacking the Holy City in retaliation for any interference on his part. In view of these anarchic conditions, little reliance was put by the non-Muslims on the assurances contained in the Hattisherif of Gulhane, the imperial manifesto issued by Sultan Abdul Mejid (1839), and the subsequent Tanzimat of 1841, in which Muslims, Christians, and Israelites were pronounced "subjects of the same emperor, children of the same father." Instead, they flocked to the consuls of the European powers and registered with them, thus acquiring the protection of resident and very influential foreign officials. In April 1856 followed the long-expected imperial edict Haiti Humayan, which accorded full equality before the law to all subjects of the Ottoman Empire without distinction as to religion; in 1857 a Ministry of Public Instruction was estab­ lished for the Empire; and in 1859 the Majelle or Civil Code was adopted. The actual improvement in the civic conditions of the population, however, lagged considerably behind written promises and guarantees. Especially in Transjordan, where the hand of the Turkish government was felt only rarely and weakly, the situation remained more or less unchanged. Even on the West Bank, education remained largely non-existent, conscription was enforced, and soldiers had to be given free

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quarters in the villages. The mail was brought by Tartar couriers once a week to Jerusalem, until the Austrian and French consuls opened their own post-offices. Time was still counted in the traditional Middle Eastern fashion, one period beginning with sunrise and ending with sunset, the second lasting from sunset to sunrise. Food and clothing were very cheap, but the popula­ tion poverty-stricken and destitute. Next to Jerusalem, the most important town on the West Bank in the second half of the 19th century was Nablus. The rise of this town, following its sufferings under Ibrahim Pasha, was nothing short of spectacular. In 1841 it was a small and desolate locality. In 1864 it was populated by 9,400 Muslims, 5,600 Christians, 100 Jews, and 150 Samaritans, and was economically fully recovered. It boasted the finest bazaar in Palestine, yielded a revenue of 10,000 to 20,000 piasters daily of tolls collected on produce at its western gate, and had a considerable soap and silverware industry. Administratively, Palestine and Transjordan were again over­ hauled in 1873. The new administrative divisions proved to be of political significance in connection with the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921. Galilee and Samaria be­ came two sanjaqs (districts) of the Vilayet of Beirut, called the Sanjaq of Acre and the Sanjaq of Belqa, respectively. The rest of Palestine, including Judaea and the Negeb down to the Gulf of Aqaba, became the independent Sanjaq (or Mutessariflik) of Jerusalem. Transjordan was divided into the following dis­ tricts (from north to south): Hawran, Jawlan, Amman, es-Salt, and Karak, the last one including Aqaba. The northwestern part of Transjordan underwent consider­ able development in the second half of the 19th century. This development, measurable by the increase in the number of vil­ lages, was greatest in the Hawran, which today lies in Syria just north of the Jordanian frontier; it was less and less pro­ nounced as one proceeded from north to south. Thus the num­ ber of villages in the Hawran increased from 134 with 47,700 inhabitants in 1852 to 230 with 137,000 inhabitants by 18901895. In the southwestern part of Transjordan no increase in population took place in the same period, some localities even decreasing in size. The population of Karak, for instance, was

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estimated in 1872 at 8,000; by 1895 it had been reduced to

2,000. Up to 1867 there seem to have been no villages at all in Transjordan east of Salt, although a small number of fellahin used to cultivate some tracts of land in that area for their Bedouin owners. The village of Yaduda, some 9 miles south of Amman, was established about 1870. Between 1875 and 1880 Christian Arabs from Karak settled at Madaba, and in 1878 the Circassians arrived and settled in the vicinity of Amman, as well as in the Jawlan area near al-Qunaytra. The West Bank towns fared better in the same period. In 1871 Hebron had 3,000 houses; Jerusalem 2,393; Bethlehem (counting as a vil­ lage) 520. With all this, the old conditions persisted in Transjordan. The Bedouins continued the raids against which the settled vil­ lagers were defenseless. The Turkish authorities lent a hand only occasionally and with little effect. In 1869, for instance, they undertook a punitive expedition against the Beni Sakhr Bedouins in Transjordan but could not inflict serious injury on that powerful tribe. Throughout the 19th century the Beni Sakhr were engaged in a struggle with the Adwan, and forced them gradually back toward the Jordan Valley. Since the end of the 19th century the shaykhs of the Beni Sakhr acquired large tracts of land to the east of the Belqa which they cultivated through Palestinian fellahin. From 1891 to 1895 there was much fighting around Petra. As a result of these unsettled con­ ditions, travel in southern Transjordan was virtually impossible. Such was the situation when the 19th century drew to a close. With the onset of the 20th century the effects of the rivalry between the European powers became more and more felt in the eastern Mediterranean. Since 1900 Turkey had definitely cast her lot with Germany, and soon after the out­ break of the First World War (1914) Palestine, as a Turkish territory, was drawn into the struggle. The war meant very little for the Arab population of Palestine as far as the basic issues between the Allies and the Central Powers (of whom Turkey was one) were concerned. They had no sympathy for Turkey, which for four centuries had been their oppressor, treating them as a vanquished people and their land as a con-

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quered domain. If the Palestinian and Transjordanian Arabs had tried to avoid military service in the Turkish army in peace­ time, now, in wartime, they redoubled their efforts to escape conscription. The war brought great suffering to all the peoples in the area, although it did not affect it directly until more than two years after its outbreak. Trade was immediately paralyzed, all supplies were sequestered for the use of the army, hunger spread, and epidemics decimated the population. To provide fuel for the increased rail traffic, many olive groves were de­ stroyed, thus contributing to the famine. In all this, the urban population suffered more than the rural, the West Bank more than the East. Palestine served as a base for the Turkish army; from it, futile attacks were mounted against the Suez Canal in February 1915 and again in September 1916. Much of the fighting in the area took place in the Sinai Desert and in the Negeb; most of the West Bank and all of the East Bank towns were spared. However, Arab irregulars, organized and partly led by Τ. E. Lawrence and the sons of the Sherif Husayn, ruler of Mecca, harassed the Turks in Transjordan and repeatedly disrupted the rail traffic on the Hijaz line. In the fall of 1917, General (later Lord) Allenby moved up from Sinai into southern Palestine, took Gaza, Beersheba, and Jaffa, and on December 9 accepted the surrender of Jerusalem. In February 1918 Jericho was captured, and the old wooden bridge across the Jordan which was destroyed by the Turks was replaced by a new steel structure thereafter known as the Allenby Bridge. Northern Palestine and Damascus were taken in the fall of 1918. Turkey's unconditional surrender of Asia Minor followed on October 31, 1918. The Emirate of Transjordan

While involved in the life-and-death struggle with Germany in the First World War, England was looking around for allies and reinforcements in all corners of the world. In 1915 contact was established between Sir Henry McMahon, the chief British representative in Egypt, and Husayn, ruler of Mecca, with a view to obtaining Arab support and sympathy for the Allied cause in exchange for a promise of British recognition of Arab

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independence. The contact took the form of a correspondence in which the key letter was written by McMahon on October 24, 1915. In this statement McMahon accepted Husayn's proposal as to Arab independence in the Arabian Peninsula (except Aden, which was under British control) and Syria and Iraq, with the exclusion of the Districts of Mersina and Adaiia in Asia Minor and the coast of Syria lying to the west of the Dis­ tricts of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. Furthermore, Sir Henry stipulated that with reference to limitations on com­ plete sovereignty the Arabs, in choosing outside assistance, would "seek the advice and guidance of Great Britain only. . . ." After some additional correspondence, Husayn, in his letter dated February 18, 1916, accepted the British terms. A few months after the conclusion of this agreement, Husayn was proclaimed the independent ruler of Mecca (June 5, 1916), and the Turkish garrison at Mecca was destroyed with the help of British artillery. On November 2, 1916, Husayn was pro­ claimed King of the Arab countries by an assembly of religious and secular notables in Mecca. The British and French, how­ ever, recognized him only as the King of the Hijaz. Troops of Husayn, trained and equipped by the British and led by Faysal, son of Husayn, and by Jafar Pasha, under the guidance of Τ. E. Lawrence and other British officers, moved north and captured Aqaba on July 5, 1917. Then, joining General Allenby's forces in Palestine, they operated in Transjordan with the help of Transjordanian tribesmen. In the final stages of the war, in 1918, they cleared Transjordan of Turkish troops and finally assisted in the conquest of Syria. Following the conquest of Palestine, the territory was placed under British administration. The coastal area of Syria was put under French control. Transjordan and interior Syria were placed under Faysal with Arab officers. In the following year (spring 1919), at the Peace Confer­ ence, the British delegation opened formal discussions with the representatives of the Zionist Organization on proposals for a draft of the Mandate for Palestine. Since the Balfour Declara­ tion, issued on November 2, 1917, contained the statement that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People, and will

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use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object," it was felt that reference to this undertaking should in some form be incorporated in the Mandate. While the lengthy negotiations on the exact wording of the Mandate were on the way, the rule over Transjordan was assigned by England to Abdullah, son of Sherif Husayn. In the final draft of the Pal­ estine Mandate, therefore, a new article, numbered 25, was introduced which gave the Mandatory (Britain) the right to withhold the application of the Balfour Declaration to the ter­ ritories east of the Jordan. When the League of Nations ap­ proved the Mandate in this form and assigned it to Britain, the legal basis was established for the creation of the Emirate of Transjordan. Emir Abdullah, son of Husayn, occupied Maan in south­ western Transjordan in November 1920. His original intention had been, when he came up with his 1,200 men from Hijaz, to attack the French in reprisal for having expelled his brother Faysal from Syria the previous year. From Maan Abdullah proceeded to Amman, and the British felt that it was time to come to an understanding with him. They feared that if Abdullah should attack the French—for whom he would prove no match —they would crush him and in doing so occupy Transjordan. A conference was therefore arranged with Abdullah, with the par­ ticipation of Sir (later Viscount) Herbert Samuel, first British High Commissioner in Palestine, Τ. E. Lawrence, and Winston Churchill, who at the time was in Jerusalem. In the course of half an hour an arrangement was made with Abdullah under which the rule over Transjordan was turned over to him, to be administered under the control of the High Commissioner for Palestine. In April 1921 Sir Herbert paid a formal visit to the newly installed Emir of Transjordan, and explained the ar­ rangement to the tribal leaders. In July of the same year the British Parliament voted a grant-in-aid for the government of the Emir in the amount of £.180,000. Only a year later, on July 24, 1922, did the League of Nations finally approve the Mandate for Palestine, and the Council declared it in effect as of September 29, 1923. The boundaries of the new principality were clearly enough defined in all directions except in the south. In 1922, and in

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March 1924 during his visit to Amman, King Husayn was re­ ported to have transferred Maan, Aqaba, and Tabuk to his son Abdullah. In 1925 the British government declared that the Maan-Aqaba section was part of Transjordan. The delimita­ tion of the frontier between Transjordan and Saudi Arabia, however, did not take place until the treaty of Jidda in 1927, when Ibn Saud acquiesced in the retention of Maan and Aqaba by Transjordan on a status quo basis without thereby relin­ quishing his legal claim. In April 1923 the British government authorized Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner for Palestine, to make the following announcement at Amman, capital of Transjordan: "Subject to the approval of the Lpague of Nations, His Majesty's Government will recognize the existence of an in­ dependent Government in Transjordan under the rule of His Highness the Emir Abdullah, provided that such Government is constitutional and places His Britannic Majesty's Government in a position to fulfill its international obligations in respect of the territory by means of an agreement to be concluded be­ tween the two Governments." The announcement was made on May 25, 1923, and simul­ taneously Emir Abdullah proclaimed the independence of Trans­ jordan. One of the first measures taken by the new government of Transjordan was to organize (as early as 1921) a military force known as the Arab Legion which was destined to play an important role in the history of the country. In the first few years of its existence the Legion consisted of less than 1,000 men, under a British commanding officer, Captain F. G. Peake, who organized the Legion and headed it until 1939. The main task of the Legion was to maintain order inside the coun­ try, and especially to exercise some measure of control over the Bedouin tribes who could not be disarmed because this would have been tantamount to delivering them up to the mercy of the Hijazi tribes south of the border. In 1922, and again in August 1924, several Wahhabi ex­ peditionary units were dispatched by King Ibn Saud against Transjordan. Both of these attacks were repelled by Royal Air Force planes stationed at Amman. In the second of these at-

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tacks, the Wahhabi tribesmen approaching a group of Beni Sakhr villages south of Amman were sighted by British recon­ naissance planes and subsequently counterattacked by planes and armored cars. The Wahhabi invaders were put to flight and pursued deep into the desert. On February 20, 1928, an agreement was signed between Great Britain and the Emirate of Transjordan, followed by an Organic Law published on April 19 of the same year. Accord­ ing to these instruments, the Emir was recognized as the head of the state, with hereditary rights, and Islam was declared the religion of the state. The Emir agreed "to be guided by the ad­ vice of His Britannic Majesty tendered through the High Com­ missioner for Transjordan in all matters concerning foreign relations of Transjordan, as well as in all important matters affecting the international and financial obligations and interests of His Britannic Majesty in respect of Transjordan." Another important point in the agreement was the one in which Britain reserved the right to "maintain armed forces in Transjordan" and to "raise, organize and control in Transjordan such armed forces as may in his opinion be necessary." The Emir, on the other hand, undertook to raise or maintain any military forces only with the consent of Britain. In these and several other important matters the agreement thus made the Emir dependent on Britain. In execution of one of the points in the agreement, a forma­ tion known as the Transjordan Frontier Force was created in the same year with the only function of defending the frontiers of the country. Since, under the terms of the agreement, frontier defense was a specific British responsibility, the Transjordan Frontier Force was a British imperial formation under the command of the High Commissioner for Palestine who, since 1927, received a separate commission from His Britannic Majesty as High Commissioner for Transjordan. At the time the Emirate of Transjordan was created, and for several years thereafter its population was estimated at 300,000. Of these, only about 130,000 were settled in towns and villages; the rest were either fully nomadic Bedouins or semi-nomads still living in tents. Of these, the large and mobile full nomad tribes caused serious concern from an administrative point of

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view since in several cases their traditional wandering terri­ tories lay on both sides of the new international frontiers separating Transjordan from Saudi Arabia in the south and from Syria in the north. The problem was partially solved by a customs agreement signed in January 1926 and renewed in March 1930, and by a number of other agreements among Transjordan and her neighbors. These agreements provided for the undisturbed continuation of the old established trade between central Arabia and Damascus which after the estab­ lishment of the eastern corridor of Transjordan had to pass through Transjordanian territory. The seasonal migration of the Rwala tribes between the Jawf (in the winter) and the out­ skirts of Jebel Druze and the Lejah (in the summer) could be continued undisturbed only if they were given permission to cross the new international frontiers between Saudi Arabia and Transjordan and between Transjordan and Syria. This prob­ lem was taken care of by the Haddah and Bahrah agreements of 1925, which constituted a kind of statute for the tribal regime on both sides of the frontier. According to these agreements the tribes were not to cross the new international frontiers without the sanction of the governments on both sides of the line; but, in accordance with the principle of the freedom of grazing, neither government was to have the right to withhold its sanction if the migrations were due to grazing necessities. Until 1929 government business in Transjordan was trans­ acted by an Executive Council consisting of official members. In February 1929 elections were held for a Legislative Council which first met on April 2, 1929. Sixteen members were elected, of them 9 Muslim Arabs, 3 Christian Arabs, 2 Circassians and 2 Bedouins, the last 2 also being Muslim Arabs but represent­ ing the special interests of the nomads. Six official members (the Chief Minister, the Minister of Justice, the Chief Secre­ tary, the Treasurer, the Director of Health, and the Director of Education) brought the total membership of the Council to 22. One of the first acts of the Council was to ratify the AngloTransjordanian Agreement of 1928. However, the elected mem­ bers regarded their official, i.e., appointed, colleagues with sus­ picion, believing that every possible effort would be made to deprive them of their newly won representative powers. To

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remove this feeling the Emir proclaimed an addition to the Organic Law of 1928, granting members complete freedom of speech within the limits of the Standing Order during the delib­ erations of the Council, i.e., for three months of the year. In internal matters the new state made steady progress under British guidance. The Emir exacted written guarantees for good behavior from the shaykhs of the Bedouin tribes; a railway service was established between Amman and Palestine; tribal courts were organized, government boys' and girls' schools opened; a health department initiated; roads built; mail and telegraph services improved; and a branch of the S.P.C.A. estab­ lished. These measures resulted in a gradual decline of inter­ tribal raiding within the country, although occasional mutual incursions of predatory tribes from and into Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia continued. The 1927 Report on Palestine and Transjordan remarked with satisfaction that "the general atti­ tude of mind on political matters is becoming more reasonable." In 1928, the first time in their long history, the towns of Amman, Salt, Irbid, Karak, Maan, Madaba, Zerka, Husn, Ajlun, Jerash, Tafile, and Aqaba elected municipal councils. In 1929 there were 4 hospitals in Transjordan (3 in Amman and 1 in Salt) with a total of 92 beds. In the same year a De­ partment of Lands was created and part of the country sur­ veyed. In June 1931 new elections were held for the Legislative Council with its composition remaining the same. An agree­ ment was finally reached with the French government regard­ ing the frontier between Transjordan and Syria. A pipeline convention was signed with the Iraq Petroleum Company and routes for the pipeline and a trans-desert railway were surveyed. On June 4 ex-king Husayn, father of Emir Abdullah, who had been ousted from Hijaz by King Ibn Saud, died in Amman and was buried in Jerusalem. By 1932 the number of government schools increased to 62 in which there were 5,455 pupils, of them 4,154 boys in primary schools, and 922 girls. The total number of the school-age population (aged 6 to 14) at the time was around 75,000. In the spring of 1934 Emir Abdullah was invited by the Brit­ ish government to visit London. During his sojourn in England

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negotiations took place between him and the British govern­ ment, the result of which (published on July 23, 1934) were certain amendments to the 1928 Anglo-Transjordanian Agree­ ment. The main points in the new agreement were the follow­ ing: A new British Resident was to be appointed to Amman representing the High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan. Transjordan was to be entitled to establish relations with foreign powers through the offices of the Resident and the High Commissioner, and to set up consular offices in the neighboring Arab state. The Emir undertook for the government of Transjordan henceforth to defray the normal expenses of the civilian government and administration of the Emirate. It was agreed that no customs barrier should exist between Pales­ tine and Transjordan. In the Emirate period, Transjordan's settled part was divided into four districts, called muntaqas or liwas, and one autono­ mous territory. Each district was headed by a district governor (Mutasarrif of Hakim Idare), and was further subdivided into several subdistricts called qadas (colloquial, kazas), and each of the latter again subdivided into smaller territorial units called nahiyas. Each kaza was administered by a qaim-maqam (colloquial, kaymakam), and each nahiya by a mudir. The Ajlun District, in the northwest corner of Transjordan, contained the kaza of Jerash and the nahiyas of Ajlun, Malka, and Kura. The Belqa District, located to the south of the Ajlun District, included the kazas of Salt and Madaba. The Karak District, to the south of the former, included the kaza of Tafile. The Maan District, occupying the southernmost part of Trans­ jordan, included the nahiyas of Aqaba and Wadi Musa (Petra). The autonomous "territory of the capital," Amman, was com­ pletely surrounded by the Belqa District and included, in addi­ tion to the capital city itself, the Circassian settlements of Zerka, Sukhne, Wadi Sir, Naur, and Rassafil. All these administrative divisions were located in the settled or semi-settled western belt of Transjordan. To the east of them stretched the desert, several times the size of all four districts together, uninhabited by settled population, and utilized even by the Bedouins only for a few months each year when they

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were in search of winter pasture for their animals. This huge area was not included under any district but administered by the Emir in person, with the assistance of the Bedouin Control Board. This Board, with statutory powers, was established by law in 1929, and consisted of 3 members: a member of the Emir's family, the British officer commanding the Arab Legion, and a Bedouin shaykh coopted by them. The duties of the Board included the control of the movements of the Bedouin tribes, the checking of raids, and the settling of intertribal feuds. During the days of the Emirate only the rudimentary be­ ginnings of a political consciousness were noticeable among the Transjordanian population. The great majority of the people neither had any knowledge of what politics meant nor dis­ played any interest in it. The nomadic and semi-nomadic majority of the population had no understanding of political ideas or activities. For them the last word in allegiance and alignment was the centuries-old Qays-Yaman (north-south) tribal division in which every person, family, and tribe had their traditional genealogically determined places in one of the two opposing factions. Only in the towns did the family loyalties assume a political character and only there did the beginnings of political parties emerge, retaining all the passion and intensity characterizing traditional family rivalries. Perhaps the most vociferous of these newly created political parties was the Istiqlal (Independence) Party, an offshoot of the Syrian and Palestinian party of the same name. Almost its entire leadership in Transjordan consisted, not of native Transjordanians, but of nationalist Arab immigrants who had to leave Syria, Palestine, Egypt or the Hijaz for political reasons. As The Arab Federation Weekly of May 28, 1934 stated, these Arab nationalist leaders "were repeatedly disappointed in Damascus, Jerusalem, Beirut, and Cairo" and many "flocked to Amman where they thought they could revive Arab culture and work for an Arab renaissance; Amman, in fact, became the Mecca of Arab nationalism." These nationalists advocated an independent Arab federation with the participation of Transjordan, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and opposed most vehemently the pro-British policy of Emir Abdullah. Powerful supporters

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of the Transjordanian Istiqlal Party were Hajj Amin al-Husayni, Mufti of Jerusalem and leader of nationalist Arab politics in Palestine, and his party, the Palestine Arab Party. The Shaab (People's) Party was formed in 1927. It became the ruling party in 1937 with the active support of the Emir. The leadership of this party was almost exclusively native Transjordanian, among them the most powerful shaykhs of the coun­ try. It fought against what it regarded as foreign influences in the political life of Transjordan; after 1933, as the government party, it supported the Emir in his fight against the Istiqlal, several of whose leaders were expelled from Transjordan. The Shaab Party maintained friendly relations with the Palestinian National Defense Party which opposed the Mufti and was headed by Raghib Bey Nashashibi, Mayor of Jerusalem. Early in 1936 a plan to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish national canton was promulgated by Archer Cust, a former official of the government of Palestine. Cust published his plan in the London conservative weekly, Spectator, and in the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society (vol. 23, April 1936, pt. 2, pp. 194-200). He suggested that the Arab canton should consist of the present Emirate of Transjordan, plus the mountain areas of Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea, with an "Arab corridor" to the Mediterranean, including Ramleh, Lydda, and Jaffa. The Jewish canton was to consist of two unconnected parts, one to the north and the other to the south of the Arab corridor. The cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and the Haifa Bay area were to be placed under the direct administration of the Mandatory Power. With rare unanimity this plan was re­ jected by both Arab and Jewish leaders. On June 6 and August 7, 1936 Emir Abdullah met with the British High Commissioner in Amman in an effort to end the strike and the uprising organized by Palestinian Arabs in protest against Jewish immigration and sale of lands by Arabs to Jews. From this time on, the Emir took an increasing interest in the affairs of the Palestinian Arabs, either independently or in con­ junction with the governments of other Arab states. On October 11, 1936 Emir Abdullah and the rulers of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen directed identical notes to the Arab Higher Com­ mittee of Palestine, urging them to stop the bloodshed and to

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have faith in "the good intentions of our friend Great Britain, who has declared that she would do justice." The Emir and Transjordan figured prominently in the report of the Royal Commission issued on July 7, 1937. The Royal Commission, headed by Earl Peel, former Secretary of State for India, was instructed by the British government to examine the causes of the disturbances in Palestine which had begun in the spring of 1936 and to "make recommendations for their removal and for the prevention of their recurrence." The gist of the Commission's recommendations was that Palestine be divided into sovereign Arab and Jewish states and a British Mandatory zone. The Arab state, to include Samaria, most of Judaea, and the entire Negeb, was to be united with Transjordan. This would have meant a considerable expansion of Emir Abdullah's domain, and for this reason he and the Na­ tional Defense Party of Palestine were suspected of favoring the proposal. In fact, a few days prior to the release of the Commission's report, the National Defense Party formally dis­ sociated itself from the Arab Higher Committee dominated by the Mufti. A few days after the publication of the report, however, the National Defense Party took a stand against partition. As to the Emir, like the King of Saudi Arabia and the Imam of Yemen, he sent an evasive reply to an appeal addressed to the Arab rulers by the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee. Soon thereafter the partition proposal was aban­ doned by Britain, and in February 1939 a conference of Arab states was called in London. There the British government informed the Arab world of its new Palestine policy laid down in the 1939 White Paper. This plan envisaged the establishment of a Palestine state in which Jews and Arabs would jointly exercise governmental authority. In contrast to other Arab states which received the new plan either with reserve or op­ position, Tawfiq Pasha Abu-l-Huda, Chief Minister of Transjordan, commended the new policy and stated in a press inter­ view that "although the White Paper policy did not grant all the Arab demands, it removed the threat to Arab national existence in Palestine by precluding the possibility of the Jews attaining a majority status in that country." In this manner Transjordan and her ruling Emir became more closely and

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directly involved in the political problems of Arab Palestine than any other Arab country or government. In 1939, while the Transjordanian Chief Minister was in London, he negotiated with the British government certain re­ visions in the Anglo-Transjordanian treaty which resulted in further modifications in favor of Transjordan. At the same time revisions of the Transjordanian constitution were agreed upon, among them the conversion of the Executive Council into a Council of Ministers directly responsible to the Emir. The constitutional revision was completed in August 1939. The Emir became commander-in-chief of the military forces, and the function and responsibilities of the Ministers were laid down. Also in 1939, Peake Pasha was replaced by Major John Bagot Glubb, an officer with wide experience in Arab countries, as officer commanding the Arab Legion. Under Glubb's leader­ ship the Legion continued to increase in size and efficiency; it included recruits not only from Transjordan but also from Iraq, Hijaz, Palestine, Syria. The outbreak of the Second World War did not affect Trans­ jordan directly. Indirectly, however, the country benefitted by the fact that Britain, in need of reserve forces stationed in ter­ ritories under its control, proceeded to build up and modernize the Arab Legion. In 1940 a desert mechanized regiment was created as part of the Arab Legion, and this addition made the Legion one of the most effective Arab armies in existence. The mechanized regiment played an active part in crushing the Rashid Ali rebellion in Iraq in 1941, and later took part in the Syrian campaign. Hand in hand with the increase in the size of the Legion went increases in British subsidies to Transjordan, increases which ultimately redounded to the benefit of the economy of the country as a whole. Between 1938 and 1941 the Haifa-Baghdad road was constructed, of which about one third passed through Transjordanian territory. During the Sec­ ond World War this road carried much military traffic, once again proving the strategic significance of Transjordan for Britain and her allies. Toward the end of the Emirate period, Abdullah became more and more isolated from the other Arab states. King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, his neighbor to the south, who had de-

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feated and expelled Abdullah's father, the Sherif Husayn, from Mecca was a hereditary enemy. In Syria and Palestine the most powerful political parties regarded him with suspicion and dis­ trust: Abdullah's Greater Syria Plan was in their eyes aimed at bringing their respective countries under the Emir's domina­ tion. Transjordan's relations with Egypt and with Iraq (ruled by another member of the Hashimite family) were lukewarm. Abdullah was thus forced to recognize that the only true friend on whom he could rely was Great Britain. Nevertheless, when the Arab League was created, Transjordan was one of the signatories of the Pact of the League (on March 22, 1945), together with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The Kingdom of Transjordan

In an exchange of notes in 1943-1944 Britain made the implicit promise that she would grant Transjordan complete independence after the war; early in 1946 she notified the United Nations that this was her intention. In the spring of 1946 the Emir and his Prime Minister, Ibrahim Pasha Hashim, went to London to negotiate a new treaty with the British gov­ ernment. In the new Treaty of Alliance, signed on March 22, 1946 by Ibrahim Pasha and Mr. Bevin, Britain recognized "Transjordan as a fully independent state and His Highness the Emir as the sovereign thereof." There was a provision for the military obligations of the two governments under the alliance, and for British experts and technicians to assist the Transjordanian government. The treaty provided that British forces could be stationed at Amman, Mafraq, and elsewhere and that there would be "full and frank consultation between Great Britain and Transjordan in all matters of foreign policy which might affect their common interests." This treaty proved un­ popular in the Arab world as well as in Transjordan, but it enabled the Emir to assume (on May 25, 1946) the title of "King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan." The corona­ tion ceremony held at Amman was attended by representatives of Britain and the Arab countries, as well as by half of Trans­ jordan's population. The transition from self-government under a British High

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Commissioner and his representative, the Resident in Amman, to complete independence did not come about without dif­ ficulties and friction. The British Resident, Sir Alec S. Kirkbride, continued in his office with the new title of British Min­ ister to Transjordan. Many of the British officials and advisers felt that they were less than welcome and that their well-meant efforts to help and advise were not appreciated. A Constitution for Transjordan was published on February 1, 1947 and became effective one month later. It provided for a Parliament consisting of two Houses. The Chamber of Deputies was to have 20 members (12 Muslims, 4 Christians, 2 to represent the Bedouin tribes, and 2 to represent the Circas­ sian and the Chechen or Shishan communities) to be elected for five years by manhood suffrage. This Chamber was to have legislative powers but no control over finance or government appointments. The second House, called the Council of Notables, was to have 10 members appointed by the King. The first elections, for which 100,000 Transjordanians over 18 years of age had registered, took place on October 20, 1947. Sixty per cent of the registered electors actually cast their bal­ lots. Only one party, the government-sponsored al-Nahda (Re­ vival) Party, ran; the opposition abstained, with its head, Abu Ghanima, criticizing the elections from the safety of Damascus. Tawfiq Pasha Abu-l-Huda, who since 1928 had been in and out of office and who was a strong advocate of the Greater Syria Plan, became the new First Minister. The changed circumstances, however, soon made it apparent that a new treaty with England was necessary. Such an instru­ ment was in fact signed at Amman on March 15, 1948 by Sir Alec Kirkbride for the United Kingdom and by Tawfiq Abu-IHuda, Prime Minister, and Fawzi Pasha al-Mulki, Foreign Minister, for the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The new treaty, while it reduced Britain's military prerogatives in the Kingdom, enabled her to retain the possession of two air bases (at Amman and Mafraq), and provided for the setting up of an Anglo-Transjordanian Joint Defense Board to take charge of the country's external security. The new treaty also included a provision for the standardization of Jordanian army equip­ ment with that of Britain, and in the event of war gave British

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forces access to all necessary means and lines of communica­ tions in the country. In return, Britain undertook to cover the entire cost of maintaining the Arab Legion. On November 29, 1947 the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to recommend the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, with an economic union, as proposed by the majority report of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). The Arab state was to consist of Western Galilee, the east-central part of Palestine (Samaria and Judaea, with the exception of a strip along the seashore, which was to form part of the Jewish state) from the Valley of Esdraelon down to Beersheba, a five-mile-wide strip along the Mediterranean from the latitude of Jerusalem down to the Egyptian frontier, and an irregular strip of land along the Egyptian border from the Mediterranean to about halfway to the Gulf of Aqaba—a total territory of about 5,000 square miles. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, with some adjoining territory, were to remain outside both states and form a trust territory under U.N. administration. The Jews accepted this resolution. The Arab states rejected it, and the Arab Higher Committee of Palestine began to or­ ganize armed resistance. Arab detachments of volunteers re­ cruited in neighboring countries began to enter Palestine and by February 1, 1948 the ensuing clashes resulted in over 2,500 casualties. As early as January 1, 1948 Britain declared that she would not aid the U.N. in the implementation of the parti­ tion resolution but would terminate her Mandate by May 1948, prior to which date she would oppose the entry of the U.N. Palestine Commission to the country. British troop withdrawals began soon thereafter and on May 14, 1948 the British Mandatory government of Palestine was officially terminated. On the same day, the Jewish National Council, meeting in Tel Aviv, declared the foundation of the Independent State of Israel. The following day contingents of the regular armies of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Transjordan, Egypt, and a token force from Saudi Arabia began their penetration through the borders of the Mandatory area and clashed with the Israeli forces already holding considerable parts of the country. The fighting was interrupted by a truce of four weeks

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from June 11 to July 9, and was terminated by a second truce which went into effect on July 16 on the Jerusalem front and on July 18 in the other zones of combat. Upon the cessation of hostilities it at once became evident that King Abdullah's Arab Legion was the only Arab army able to hold its own against Israel. The Legion was in control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and (with the help of Iraqi troops) of two large pockets extending from the Jordan River westward into the hill country of Samaria in the north and of Judaea in the south of Jerusalem. The subsequent armistice agreement between Israel and Transjordan confirmed Abdullah's hold over these territories, and the ineffectiveness of the opposition of the Arab League to his plans made it possible for him to incorporate these territories within his kingdom. The armistice agreement was entered into on April 3, 1949 at Rhodes, with the assistance of Dr. Ralph Bunche, the acting United Nations mediator. It defined the armistice demarcation lines between Israel and Transjordan, and stipulated that "no element of the land, sea or air military or para-military forces of either Party including non-regular forces shall commit any warlike or hostile act against the military or para-military forces of the other Party, or against civilians in territory under control of that Party; or shall advance beyond or pass over for any purpose whatsoever the Armistice Demarcation Lines." The agreement also provided that a Mixed Armistice Com­ mission be set up consisting of 2 Israeli and 2 Transjordanian members, with the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization or one of his senior aides as the chairman. Frequent and persistent border violations were to keep this Armistice Commission busy in subsequent years. Three weeks later (April 26, 1949) King Abdullah adopted a new name for his country, thenceforward to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Arab League's opposition to Abdullah's annexation of the West Bank area held by his army was doomed to failure from its very beginning. In September 1948 the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee tried to establish an Arab "Govern­ ment of All-Palestine" with its seat at Gaza, under Egyptian occupation. Although most of the Arab states recognized this

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body, which elected the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, as the President of its Assembly, King Abdullah of course refused to recognize a political formation dominated by his old enemy, the Mufti. In December 1948 King Abdullah was acclaimed King of united Transjordan and Palestine.

3. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1948-1957 The Annexation THE annexation of the West Bank (as the Jordanian territory to the west of the Jordan River henceforward became known) introduced profound changes in both the social structure and the political life of Jordan. The main reason for these changes and the ensuing difficulties was that the annexation brought to­ gether two population elements greatly differing from each other in numerous respects. Numerically, the Palestinian population—resident plus ref­ ugees—was twice as large as the original Transjordanian con­ tingent. What primarily set the people of the West Bank apart from those of the East Bank were the diiferent cultural and social experiences they underwent in the course of the three decades of British Mandatory tutelage. The West Bank (Pal­ estine) was under direct British administration throughout this period, whereas Transjordan was in 1923 proclaimed an Emirate independent in practically all internal matters, and under British control only in such matters as foreign relations, finance and fiscal policy, jurisdiction over foreigners, and free­ dom of conscience. As a consequence of this early independ­ ence, as well as of its exclusion as an area of Jewish settlement, Transjordan was not exposed to the forces and influences which molded the character of the Palestinian Arab population. Old Muslim Middle Eastern traditions continued undisturbed in such areas as family, social, and economic life; little changes were introduced in education and sanitation. The ecological structure of the population, with its majority of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribal elements, remained largely unchanged. The agricultural regimen of the villages continued, and the few towns that existed remained small and provincial, including the capital, Amman, which as late as 1947 was nothing more than an overgrown village with a population of some 30,000. The Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, were exposed dur­ ing the thirty years preceding the annexation to direct and

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incisive influences exerted simultaneously by the British Manda­ tory government in internal administration and legislation and by the Jewish settlement which stimulated both emulation and competition. By the end of the Mandatory period, the Pal­ estinian Arabs had far outdistanced the Transjordanians in the number of schools, hospitals, railroads and highways, industrial enterprises and cultural undertakings (such as newspapers, books, theaters, radio). A considerable percentage of the Pal­ estinian Arabs had become urbanized, and a middle class as well as an urban proletariat had begun to emerge. If one adds to this the considerable number of Palestinian civil servants who had gained considerable administrative experience in the employment of the British Mandatory government, there emerges a population element which in education, vocational training, professional work, urbanization, social ideas, freedom for women, and experience in political organization and ac­ tivities surpassed any standard reached by the Transjordanians. By and large it may be said that the Palestinian Arab popula­ tion as a whole, and especially those sectors which became competitors of the Transjordanians in administration, in the professions, and in social and political leadership after the annexation of the West Bank, constituted a group much more advanced in Westernization than their fellow-citizens to the east of the river. Much has been done in the course of the few years since the annexation to weld the Eastern and Western groups together into one people. In many cases the Palestinians, with their special skills, fulfilled needs which became apparent in the East Bank soon after the unification. But, as was inevitable un­ der the circumstances, rivalries began to emerge. The people of the East Bank resented the fact that the Palestinians, whose territory they had conquered and annexed, should by dint of their superior qualifications be able to assume important posi­ tions in government and in professional life, and that in addi­ tion they should regard the East Bankers with hauteur, as backward and uneducated. This feeling of resentment was nourished by those not too rare instances in which Trans­ jordanians had to suffer competition from the Palestinians in posts and positions in all walks of life that had formerly been

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

Transjordanian preserves. The Palestinians, on the other hand, resented the fact that while they constituted about two thirds of the total population of the country, political power re­ mained concentrated almost exclusively in the hands of former Transjordanians. They saw in the Transjordanians a backward and primitive people and were dissatisfied with the secondary roles they were forced to play while the top leadership re­ mained a prerogative of Transjordanians. The attitudes of the Palestinians and the Transjordanians toward each other bore a considerable resemblance to those of the Middle Eastern peo­ ples as a whole toward the Western world: the ambivalent feeling of admiration and the wish to emulate on the one hand, coupled with resentment and the wish to reject on the other. The acquisition of this better educated and politically more experienced population necessarily brought about significant changes in the nature of the Jordanian government. First of all, the Palestinian Arabs differed greatly in their attitude to Britain. The Transjordanians had had little or no direct contact with British power, little or no interest in government and politics, little or no knowledge of what a parliament really was. The Palestinians were as violently anti-British as they were antiIsrael; they were keenly interested in securing for themselves a full measure of participation in Jordanian government and politics; and they were fully aware of the value of a parliament for the airing of grievances. The manifestations of these at­ titudes and ambitions were numerous. In October 1949 a new anti-Abdullah daily was launched in Amman. Economic condi­ tions on both banks of the Jordan were sharply criticized. Political opposition became better organized and more daring than it had ever been in Transjordan. New elections for Parliament were held in April 1950. This time there were over 300,000 voters, more than half of them on the West Bank. Twenty seats were to represent the East Bank, and 20 the West Bank. More than 120 candidates com­ peted for the available 40 seats, all running as independents. Several of Abdullah's outspoken critics were returned, in­ cluding the al-Baath ("Resurrection") group, as well as some former supporters of the Mufti. A few days after the election Abdullah appointed a new Senate of 20 members, most of whom were his loyal supporters and 7 of whom were Palestinians. On

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April 24, 1950 the two Houses formally approved the annexa­ tion of the West Bank; the measure was confirmed three days later by Britain. The merger did not eliminate the differences between the East Bankers and the West Bankers, between the supporters of the King and his critics. On the contrary: the Palestinian deputies, supported by the Palestinians in control of the Amman press, occasionally attained a majority in Parliament, and criti­ cism of Abdullah grew steadily. His failure to aid the refugees, his Greater Syria plan, and the reputed power of Glubb Pasha, commander of the Arab Legion, were favorite targets of attack. In October 1950, following the reorganization of the Cabinet with the incorporation of two stanch supporters of the King, Abdullah legalized an opposition party called the National Front, led by Sulayman Nabulsi, a former Minister and a subse­ quent Prime Minister. In January 1951 the King sought an increase in the subsidy which was paid by Britain to Jordan for the expenses of the Arab Legion, and at the same time asked for a further loan. A new agreement was concluded in March, but the May budget nevertheless showed a deficit of £2 million. This was an op­ portunity that the opposition could not leave unexploited and its sharp criticism of the budget resulted in its rejection by Parliament in May. When the budget was referred back to the Cabinet, the King dissolved Parliament, put the budget pro­ posal in force under a temporary law, and announced that new elections would take place in three months. On July 20, 1951 King Abdullah was assassinated at the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem during the Friday prayers by a young adherent of Hajj Amin al-Husayni's militant group known as Jihad Muqaddas (Sacred Struggle). His death deprived the young kingdom of a leader who in the course of his several decades of reign accumulated a great deal of experience, grew in stature, and ceaselessly strove for a double goal: the welfare of his own country and the unification of the Arab world. King Talal At the time of his father's death, Crown Prince Talal was in Switzerland undergoing treatment for a nervous breakdown or disorder. Consequently, on the day King Abdullah was assas-

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sinated, the Cabinet in an emergency session proclaimed Emir Naif, Abdullah's second son, as Regent. On July 24th the Prime Minister, Samir al-Rifai, resigned, and Tawfiq Abu-I-Huda was charged with forming a new government. On August 29 the elections, originally announced by King Abdullah, took place, and immediately thereafter the Regent, Amir Naif, appointed a new Senate with 13 Senators representing the East Bank and 7 the West Bank. On September 6th Emir Talal was proclaimed King of Jordan; two days later he announced the formation of a new government, again with Tawfiq Abu-I-Huda as its Prime Minister. On November 7, 1951 the Chamber of Deputies approved a new Constitution (promulgated on January 8, 1952) in which the most significant innovation was the provision that there­ after the Cabinet would be responsible to the Chamber of Deputies which, by a two-thirds majority vote of censure or no confidence, could oblige it to resign. At the same time King Talal embarked upon a foreign policy which was diametrically opposed to that of his father. Where Abdullah relied on the British, Talal resented them and Jordan's dependence on British subsidy. Where Abdullah stubbornly persisted in his Greater Syria or Fertile Crescent plan, Talal al­ lowed his Prime Minister to deny any attempt on Jordan's part for a unification with Iraq—this within two weeks after his accession. At the same time Talal paid an extended visit to King Ibn Saud (November 10-18, 1951), thereby stressing his desire for friendship with his father's hereditary enemy. In line with his policy of rapprochement with the other Arab states, on March 22, 1952 Talal signed the collective security pact of the Arab League. Early in 1952 the government initiated measures to suppress Communism in Jordan. The leader of the Communist move­ ment, Fuad Nassir, and three of his associates were arrested on December 29, 1951 and sentenced to several years' imprison­ ment on February 20, 1952. The mental disorder from which Talal suffered did not im­ prove and on May 18, 1952 he again left for Switzerland, ostensibly for psychiatric treatment. On June 4 the Cabinet named a Regency Council to exercise the constitutional powers

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of the King because of his continued ill health. Soon thereafter the political leadership in the country became convinced that the King would remain permanently unfit for the assumption of his responsibilities. Thereupon, on August 11, 1952 the bicam­ eral Parliament deposed him and proclaimed his minor son, Crown Prince Husayn, King of Jordan. Husayn was at the time studying in the Sandhurst military academy in England, and the Regency Council continued to carry on the duties of royalty. In the fall of 1952 the dissatisfaction of the West Bank political leaders with the conduct of the Jordanian government mounted, and on November 12, when Prime Minister Tawfiq Abu-I-Huda—who had resigned and then formed a new gov­ ernment in September—asked for a vote of confidence, 17 Palestinian members left the Chamber, whereupon a vote of confidence was given to him by the remaining 22 deputies. Two days later disturbances took place in the West Bank towns of Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Nablus, and on the following day students in Amman went on strike against the government. Al­ though these demonstrations soon subsided, the feeling of dis­ satisfaction with the manner in which West Bank and refugee interests were handled by the government persisted. In the spring of 1953 several events took place which gave a financial boost to Jordan. On March 9 the British government agreed to make a grant of £1.75 million sterling available to Jordan for the fiscal year beginning April 1, and on April 7 an agreement was concluded with the United States government for technical assistance amounting to close to $2 million. King Husayn

On May 2, 1953 King Husayn was sworn in as King on his eighteenth birthday, on the very day on which his second cousin, Faysal II, was installed as King of Iraq. Three days later, in accordance with constitutional procedure, the Cabinet resigned and the King asked Fawzi al-Mulqi to form a new government. This change removed from the helm of govern­ ment Tawfiq Abu-l-Huda, who was strongly objected to by the opposition, and placed in responsible position a number of liberal leaders, among them Anwar al-Khatib as Minister of Economy, Reconstruction, and Development.

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Soon after this installation King Husayn received several state visits from Arab countries, thereby strengthening Jordan's relations with neighboring states. The first two heads of state to visit King Husayn in Amman were Camille Chamoun, Pres­ ident of Lebanon (on June 16) and King Faysal of Iraq (on August 12). Their visits were followed on June 13, 1954 by that of King Saud of Saudi Arabia. On July 27, 1953 the Cabinet met in Jerusalem for the first time since the annexation, thereby establishing the position of Jerusalem as a second capital. Emboldened by what seemed a considerable initial success, the opposition became increasingly critical of the regime until, on January 17, 1954, the government found it expedient to dissolve all political parties and require licensing of new ones. In May Premier Mulqi resigned and on June 22 Tawfiq Abu-IHuda, who had resumed the premiership, dissolved the Parlia­ ment by royal decree. Soon thereafter he suspended the re­ maining political parties and closed down five weekly news­ papers. On August 18 the Cabinet received special powers and called for new elections in October. The elections, which took place on October 16, were accompanied by disturbances and violence which resulted in at least 9 dead, most of them in Amman. There, in addition, the demonstrations took an antiAmerican turn and the library of the U.S. Information Agency was set on fire. The opposition charged terror and intimidation; several opposition leaders were arrested and others fled to Damascus. As was to be expected, the elections resulted in an overwhelmingly pro-government Parliament, with 40 seats of the Chamber distributed as follows: Independents 37; Ummah (Nation) Party (formed only a few months earlier by Samir al-Rifai) 1; Liberation Party (outlawed) 1; National Demo­ cratic Party (Communist-unregistered) 1. The anti-American demonstrations on election day were particularly disappointing for the government, for only twelve days prior to them (October 4, 1954) the U.S. Point Four Administration allocated more than $4 million to Jordan for the 1954-1955 fiscal year, thereby demonstrating its continued readiness to aid. However, demonstrations and the creation of disturbances were a favorite pastime of the street mobs in the Jordanian

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towns, and they could easily be channeled by skilled agitators in practically any direction. Less than eight weeks after the anti-American incidents, the streets of Amman were again loud with protestations by 1,000 secondary school students—this time in front of the Egyptian Embassy—against Egypt's hang­ ing 6 members of the Moslem Brotherhood convicted of plot­ ting the overthrow of the Egyptian government. This demonstra­ tion was followed two days later (December 10, 1954) by a general strike in Amman in manifestation of the same senti­ ments. In the winter of 1954-1955 conversations took place between Jordan and Great Britain with a view to obtaining an increase in the various British subsidies to Jordan (which were ap­ proved). There were also talks, which remained inconclusive, on the possible revision of the Anglo-Jordanian treaty. On February 7, 1955 King Husayn carried out a scheme which seemed insignificant at the time but which may have contributed materially to the saving of his throne more than two years later. He distributed 8,000 dunams (about 2,000 acres) of land in the Jordan Valley to tribesmen who had par­ ticipated in the Arab revolt led by his great-grandfather, Sherif Husayn, in the latter part of the First World War. The al­ legiance of the tribesmen, cemented by this act, proved an im­ portant factor in the spring of 1957 when King Husayn strug­ gled against both internal and external enemies. The presence of the large numbers of refugees on both banks of the Jordan and the resentment felt in particular by the Pal­ estinians, whether refugees or not, against Israel were a con­ stant source of irritation in the political situation in Jordan. The Jordanian-Israeli frontier was the scene of unceasing bor­ der incidents and, while the Jordanian incursions into Israel took the form of frequent small-scale attacks claiming each time but a few victims, the Israeli retaliation was slow in com­ ing but on a larger scale. Although the balance showed at all times more Israeli than Jordanian victims of this border strife, the impression left by the two massive Israeli attacks on Kibya (in October 1953) and Nahhalin (in March 1954) was such that no "moderate" Jordanian politician ever dared advocate a compromise or a rapprochement with Israel. Since Abdullah's

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

death, the government declarations and speeches from the throne have invariably included a mention of either the inten­ tion to attack Israel or at least the determination not to make peace or negotiate with the Jews. The enmity felt against Israel was complemented, especially in the West Bank, by a distrust of Britain and the United States, who were regarded by the uninformed and the half-informed as mainly responsible for the creation and the continued existence of the State of Israel. On February 24, 1955 the Iraqi-Turkish Pact of Mutual Cooperation was signed. The pact evoked violent opposition and bitter criticism in the Arab world. At the time the negotiations for the pact were in progress, it was generally assumed and ex­ pected that Jordan, as a Hashemite and British-influenced coun­ try, would follow Iraq's example and accede to the pact. How­ ever, the Jordanian representatives at the Arab League meeting in January 1955, Prime Minister Abu-I-Huda and Foreign Minister Walid Salah, did not take Iraq's side, and on March 14, 1955, back in Amman, the Foreign Minister stated that Jordan was opposed to the Iraqi-Turkish Pact. Shortly there­ after (on March 29) the Cabinet of Tawfiq Abu-I-Huda re­ signed, and the new government formed on June 1 by Said el-Mufti shelved the entire issue for a period of six months. During the ensuing months King Husayn continued his ef­ forts to strengthen the ties between his country and its powerful southern neighbor. In the beginning of September 1955 he paid a three-day visit to King Saud. Toward the end of the same month the Jordanian government decided to nationalize the British Telegraphs and Wireless Company, and entered into negotiations to purchase the firm's equipment. In October an agreement for oil explorations in Jordan was signed with an American firm. The most important developments that took place in November were the state visit of Turkish President Bayar; the British announcement that ten jet fighters would be supplied to Jordan, together with personnel to train Jordanian pi­ lots; and the Jordanian announcement that Jordan would remain neutral in relation to the Baghdad Pact, the Syro-Egyptian De­ fense Pact, and the Egyptian-Saudi Arabian Defense Pact. During the same fall Walid Salah, Jordanian Foreign Minister, fled from Amman, and from the safety of Damascus and later

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of Cairo, and declared that his life had been in danger because of his "opposition to imperialism." On December 6 General Sir Gerald Templar, chief of Britain's General Staff, arrived in Amman and in talks with King Husayn and high government officials urged Jordan to adhere to the Baghdad Pact. At the same time the opposite point-of-view—the one popular among the people in all the Arab states—was embraced by many Jordanians in Amman and Jerusalem as a result of the simul­ taneous visit of Egyptian Colonel Anwar el-Sadat. On December 14, the very day when Jordan's application for U.N. member­ ship was approved by the General Assembly, Prime Minister Said el-Mufti had to resign following the resignation of four of his Cabinet's members in protest over the British-sponsored plan that Jordan join the Baghdad Pact. On the following day King Husayn entrusted Haza al-Majali, a man of Bedouin back­ ground and a supporter of the Baghdad Pact, with the forma­ tion of a new government. Three days later demonstrations broke out in Amman, Jericho, and Hebron against the new government and the Baghdad Pact. In Hebron the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees was attacked by a street mob as the only tangible sign of foreign interference in their town. The following day, while the demonstrations continued, the new Prime Minister suggested to King Husayn that Parlia­ ment be dissolved and new elections held. In protest against this plan, six members of al-Majali's cabinet resigned, but the King issued the requisite decree dissolving the Parliament and calling for new elections within four months. On December 20 demon­ strations continued and became even more violent. The mobs attacked the U.S., French, and Turkish consulates in Jerusalem. The toll of the week's rioting was 41 persons dead and 150 injured. King Husayn asked Ibrahim Hashim, president of the Senate, to form an interim or caretaker government, and the leaders of the demonstrations, including both leftists and na­ tionalists, met in Amman to form a National Committee to prepare for the forthcoming elections. One of the demands of the National Committee was that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria should jointly offer Jordan a subsidy to replace the British grants and thus liberate Jordan from British dominance. By

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mid-January 1956, however, when, in response to these de­ mands, the Egyptian, Saudi-Arabian, and Syrian governments actually made the offer to replace the British subsidy, a new government was in power in Jordan which felt secure enough in its hold on the country to shelve the subsidy proposal. On December 30, undeterred by the preceding events, Britain announced that its economic aid to Jordan for the coming year would be increased by £500,000 sterling to a total of £3,350,000 and that it would continue unchanged the military subsidy to Jordan in the amount of £7,500,000 for the coming year. Following the issuance of a protest by a group of deputies of the dissolved Parliament that the dissolution of the Chamber was illegal, the Cabinet approved on January 4, 1956 a decision by a constitutional council that the dissolution of the Parliament had been unconstitutional, and cancelled the plan for new elections. This action was again followed by mob rioting, this time against the United States: on January 7 the mobs stoned the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and burned the U.S. Tech­ nical Aid center in Amman. The crowd in the southern town of Maan clamored for the annexation of their territory by Saudi Arabia, while in several other towns the mobs shouted for Syrian annexation. On January 9 a new cabinet to replace the caretaker gov­ ernment was sworn in at Amman with Samir al-Rifai as Prime Minister. Al-Rifai proclaimed martial law and declared that "the adherence to any new pacts was not the policy of his government," a statement which meant a victory for the antiBaghdad Pact forces. In the winter of 1955-1956, for the first time in the history of Jordan, open accusations were made against Arab sisterstates: Premier Majali accused Saudi Arabia of a campaign of bribery to weaken the Jordanian government. On January 10, 1956 the new government charged that broadcasts from Egypt and Saudi Arabia had a part in stirring up the mobs during the previous week. To prevent recurrence of mob violence, a strict curfew was clamped on the major towns for several days and from January 23 to February 5 censorship was imposed upon the newspapers. On January 29 a new radio station was opened in Amman

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with the primary function of counteracting the powerful Egyptian propaganda station, the "Voice of the Arabs." The first broad­ cast of the new station was a violent attack on Israel. However, by that time the Egyptian propaganda had made deep inroads in the feelings of the Jordanians, as manifested by the attack of 200 Jordanian students on the Jordan Embassy in Cairo during a visit of Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai in Egypt, in protest against the Baghdad Pact. On March 2, 1956 King Husayn made a surprise move which contributed more to his popularity in Jordan than any other step taken previously. He dismissed Lieutenant General John Bagot Glubb, commander and long-time moving spirit of the Arab Legion, together with two of the senior British officers of the Legion. In Glubb Pasha's place the King appointed Brigadier General Radi Innab commander of the Legion. Following the popular demonstrations for the King, it was expected that he would thereupon fall in line with the anti-Western Arab coun­ tries and accept the subsidy offered by them. But nothing of the sort happened. On the contrary Jordan stated that she wanted to continue the treaty relationship with Britain; Britain on her part contented herself with recalling 15 senior British officers from the Legion but did not revoke her subsidies to Jordan. When Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria renewed (still in March 1956) their offer to Jordan of a subsidy in place of British support, it was refused and on March 14 Husayn hur­ ried to a desert border station to meet his cousin King Faysal, thus reaffirming his intention of continuing cordial relations with Iraq. In April King Husayn went to Damascus to hold political discussions with Syrian President Shukri al-Quwwatli, and agree­ ment was reached between Britain and Jordan according to which Britain undertook to continue to supply Jordan with officers for training and technical duties until such time as Jordanian officers would be available to replace them. On May 20 Premier Samir al-Rifai resigned and the King asked Said al-Mufti to form a new cabinet. A few days later, Lieutenant Colonel Ali Abu Nuwar, an outspoken enemy of former commander General John Bagot Glubb, was named com­ mander of the Arab Legion, and it was announced that the

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

Legion would be merged with the Jordanian National Guard under the title of the Jordanian Army. On the last day of the month Jordan and Syria announced a military agreement pro­ viding for the establishment of a permanent body for military consultation and joint action in case of war. This agreement was closely followed (on June 4) by the renewal of the Jordanian-Iraqi treaty of friendship for another five years. The dissolution of the Parliament and the resignation of the Cabinet of Premier Said al-Mufti was followed on July 1 by the formation of a caretaker government under Senate President Ibrahim Hashim. Under this government the internal situation in the country continued to deteriorate. The daily al-Urdunn was suspended indefinitely because of its attacks on Iraqi policy toward the other Arab states, the police clashed with demonstra­ tors in Amman who attempted to stone the British and French embassies during a nationwide general strike in support of Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal, and the Jordanian Ministry of Economy demanded that all administrative and executive functions of the U.S. aid program be handed over to Jordanian ministries. By September the tension reached such a height that the British government felt impelled to advise wives and children of British personnel stationed in the country to leave Jordan. Jor­ danian talks with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt continued. Prior to the new elections, which were scheduled to take place on October 21, a definite anti-Western and pro-Egyptian swing was noticeable in the popular sentiment. Seven parties, all antiWestern, ran, putting up 68 candidates for the 40 available seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Support for a policy of co­ operation with the West came from the 76 independent candi­ dates who competed for the same 40 seats. The number of registered voters for the elections was 405,000. The 3 legally recognized parties participating in the elections were the Na­ tional Socialist Party, the Constitutionist Party, and the Bath (Arab Socialist Party). The four remaining parties, although not legally recognized, were nevertheless able to run: the Arab Nationalist Party, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Liberation Party, and the National Bloc (considered a Communist-front organization).

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

In the elections the pro-Egyptian National Socialist Party gained 11 seats, thus becoming the strongest party. The major­ ity of the 40 members were anti-Western, among them at least 3 were Communists. The King entrusted Sulayman Nabulsi, leader of the National Socialist Party, with the formation of a government. The Cabinet was formed on October 29 and in­ cluded 7 members of Nabulsi's own party, 1 extreme leftist from the National Bloc, 1 from the leftist but non-Communist Arab Resurrection Party, and 2 independents, making a total of 11 ministers. Premier Nabulsi's attitude was anti-Western from the very outset. On November 1 he broke off diplomatic relations with France, called Syrian and Iraqi troops into the country, allowed the Grand Mufti of Jordan to urge a jihad (a Holy War) against France, Britain, and Israel, banned the import of all French goods into Jordan, and engineered (on November 28) the abrogation of the 1948 twenty-year treaty of alliance and friend­ ship between Britain and Jordan. On December 5 he informed Britain that Jordan intended to abrogate the treaty as soon as Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia implemented their offer to re­ place Britain's annual subsidy of pilgrimage halib (halib), fresh milk (al-)hamdu lillah ('al-hamdu lillah), thank God (al-)hamdu lilmasih ('alhamdu lilmasih), thank Jesus

hamula (hamula), pi. hamail (hama'il), lineage hara (hara), quarter in a vil­ lage or town haram (haram), sanctuary, mosque hashish (hashish), opium hashshashin (hashshashin), as­ sassins hattata (hattata), witch, sor­ ceress henna (hinna), henna hijab (hijab), amulet hijra (hijra), the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca horr (horr), a free person ibn ('ibn), son. ibni ('ibni), my son ifraz ('ifraz), distribution of land ijma ('ijma'), consensus of opinion imam ('imam), prayer leader immi ('immi), cf. ummi in Allah rad ('in 'Allah rad), if God wills in sha Allah ('in sha 'Allah), if God wills iradah ('irada), royal decree Ismallah ('Ismallah), the name of God jami (jami'), large mosque jihad (jihad), holy war jinni (jinni), demon kafiyya (kafiyya), head cloth kalam (kalam), talk katb el-ketab (katb 'al-kitab), signing of the marriage con­ tract

GLOSSARY

khal (khal), mother's brother khale (khala), mother's sister khalifa (khalifa), calif khamseh (khamsa), group of relatives within five degrees khamsin (khamsin), dry desert wind, sirocco khatib (khatfb), preacher khutbeh (khutba), unofficial engagement khuwwah (khuwwa), protec­ tion money kohl (kohl), collyrium or anti­ mony powder used as eyepaint kuttab (kuttab), Koran school leben (laban), sour milk maaza (ma"aza), goatherders madafah (madafa), guest house madani (madani), townsman mafruz (mafruz), individually owned land mahdi (mahdl), savior majlis (majlis), tribal council maqam (maqam), local shrine marhaban (marhaban), greet­ ing markab (markab), sacred lit­ ter masjid (masjid), mosque mawlid (mawlid), religious birthday celebration menshed (manshad), judges of blood revenge mijana (mijana), type of folk song millet (millet), an ethnoreligious group

miri (miri), state land muallim (mu'allim), teacher, commission merchant muazzin (mu'azzin), prayer caller muballe (muballa'), ordeal judge mubashshe (mubashsha'), or­ deal judge mufti (mufti), religious au­ thority and leader mukhtar (mukhtar), village headman mulk (mulk), freehold land musha (musha'), jointly owned land mutawalli (mutawalli), waqf administrator nafs or nefes (nafs), soul nahiye (nahiya), smallest ad­ ministrative district narghilah (narghila), water pipe natur (natur) village watch­ man nay (nay), reed flute nesem (nasam), soul qabilah (qabila), pi. qabail (qaba'il), tribe qada (qada), district qadi (qadi), religious judge qadr (qadr), fate qahwah (qahwa), black coffee qalb (qalb), heart qalid (qalxd), peace negotiator qanun (qanun), Oriental harp qasaba (qasaba), short reed flute

GLOSSARY

qasida (qajida), a form of poem qurba (qurba), good deed rababa (rababa), one stringed violin radda (radda), musical contest raw, raiyye (ra'w, ra'iyya), shepherds riqq (riqq), circular tambou­ rine ruh (ruh), spirit ruhhal (ruhhal), sing, rahil (rahil), nomads salam (salam), peace, greeting salat (salat), prayer salib (salib), cross samiyah (samiyya), namegroup sani (sani'), pi. sunna (sun­ na'), blacksmith, artisan sawm or som (sawm), fast semn (samn), butter shahada (shahada), testimony shariah (shari'a), traditional Muslim law shaykh (shaykh), tribal chief­ tain shaykh al-bab (shaykh 'albab), peacetime chief shaykh al-harb (shaykh 'alharb), war chief shaykh esh-shdad (shaykh 'alshdad), war chief shia (shi'a), sect of Islam shirq (shirq), heresy shwaya (shwaya), sing, shawi (shawi), shepherds sulhah (sulha), peace cere­ mony

summiyye (summiyya), kin group Sunna (Sunna), body of Mus­ lim beliefs and practices suq (suq), bazaar surra (§urra), purse, protec­ tion money taam (ta'am), food takht (takht), Arab orchestra taqarrub (taqarrub), ap­ proach to God taqsim (taqsim), musical form tatwib (tatwib), land division tawhid (tawhid), declaration of the oneness of God thawb or thob (thawb), longsleeved shirt ud ('ud), lute ukht ('ukht), sister, ukhti ('ukhti), my sister ulama ('ulama), authorities in Muslim law umm ('umm), mother, ummi ('ummi), my mother urf ('urf), customary, tribal or local law wadi (wadi), dry water course wajh (wajh), face, honor wali (wall), a saint waqf (waqf), pi. awqaf ('awqaf), religious endowment wasm (wasm), tribal brandmark wasqah (wasqa), relatives within five degrees zakat (zakat), alms zuyud (zuyud), sing, ziyadi (ziyadi), judges in money matters

SUGGESTED READINGS Abdullah ibn Hussayn. Memoirs of King Abdullah of Transjordan (translated by G. Khuri, edited by P. Graves). New York: Philosophical Library, 1950. Pp. 278. Canaan, Tawfik. Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine. London: Luzac & Co., 1927. Pp. 331. The Economic Development of Jordan. Published for the Interna­ tional Bank for Reconstruction and Development by the Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1957. Pp. 448. Glubb, John Bagot. The Story of the Arab Legion. London: Hoddert & Stoughton, 1948. Pp. 371. Illus. Granqvist, Hilma. Marriage Conditions in a Palestinian Village. Helsingfors: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Vol. 1, 1931, pp. 200. Vol. 2, 1935, pp. 336. Granqvist, Hilma. Birth and Childhood among the Arabs: Studies in a Muhammedan Village in Palestine. Helsingfors: Soderstrom, 1947. Pp. 289. Granqvist, Hilma. Child Problems among the Arabs. Helsingfors: Soderstrom, 1950. Pp. 336. Jarvis, Claude S. Arab Command; the Biography of Lt. Col. F. W. Peake Pasha. London, 1943. Pp. 158. Konikoif, A. Transjordan—an Economic Survey. 2nd ed. Jerusa­ lem: Economic Research Institute of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, 1946. Pp. 120. Matthews, Charles D. Palestine, Mohammedan Holy Land. New Haven, 1949. Pp. xxx, 176. Yale Oriental Series. Researches. Vol. 24. Musil, Alois. The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins. American Geographical Society of New York, Oriental Ex­ plorations and Studies, No. 6. New York, 1928. Pp. 712 (Memoir vi). Patai, Raphael (ed.). Jordan. Country Survey Series, Contributors: Farid Aouad, Isam Ashur, Μ. M. Bravman, Kingsley Davis, Robert W. Ehrich, John Gulick, Philip K. Hitti, J. C. Hurewitz, Charles Issawi, Jacob Landau, Simon D. Messing, Ra­ phael Patai, Moshe Perlmann, Fahim I. Qubain, William Sands, Toufic Succar. Human Relations Area Files, New Haven, 1957. Pp. 391. Patai, Raphael. Jordan, Lebanon and Syria: An Annotated Bibli­ ography, Human Relations Area Files Press, New Haven, 1957. Pp. 289. Peake, F. G. Tarikh Sharqi el-Urdunn Waqabailiha (A History of Transjordan and its Tribes). Translated from the English manu­ script into Arabic by Baha al-Din Tuqan. Jerusalem: The Mos-

SUGGESTED READINGS

Iem Orphanage Press, 1934. Pp. 462 (English: Amman, 1934. Hectographed. 2 vols. Pp. 481). Phillips, Paul Grounds. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Pro­ legomena to a Technical Assistance Program. The University of Chicago, Dept. of Geography. Research Paper No. 34 (Ph.D. thesis), March 1954. Pp. 191. Toukan, Baha Uddin. A Short History of Transjordan. London: Luzac, 1945. Pp. 48. Young, P. Bedouin Command: With the Arab Legion 1953-56. Foreword by Lt.-General Sir John Glubb. London: William Kimber, 1956. Pp. 202. Illus.

INDEX Aaron, 25 aba, abaye, robe, 180 Abbad, tribe, 20 Abd al-Hamid, Turkish Sultan, 20 Abdul Mejid, Turkish Sultan, 30 Abdullah, King of Jordan, 35, 36, 39, 41-45, 48, 49, 53, 76, 86, 275, 293 Abraham, 23, 25, 163 abu-d-duhur, sacred litter, 234 Abu Ghanima, 87 Abu Ghosh, family, 30 Abu-l-Huda, Tawfiq Pasha, 43, 46, 54, 55, 56, 58 Abu Nuwar, Lt.-Col. Ali, 61, 6465, 69 Acre, 30, 31 ada, customary law, 234; cf. urf Adasiya, 22, 124 Adwan, tribe, 32, 163, 192 afrit, demon, 279 agriculture, 101, 103, 106, 107, 119-128, 189, 275 ahl, family, 168 ahl er-rassan, horse judges, 235 Ajlun, 5, 10, 39, 4u, 65, 163, 165, 166, 193, 195, 204 Allenby, Edmund, General, 33, 34 Amarna letters, 23-24 Amman, 5, 10, 20, 31, 32, 35, 36, 39-42, 45, 46, 50, 52, 53, 55-60, 62, 66, 67, 70-72, 78, 83, 86, 94, 95, 98, 105, 114, 115, 117, 121, 128, 131, 132, 134, 157, 165, 192, 194, 214, 216, 217, 223, 241, 243, 245, 247, 260, 271, 272, 273, 284, 285, 292, 294, 295, 299 Ammon, 25 Amori, 25 Aneze, tribes, 157, 164, 165, 169 Anglo-Transjordan treaty, 40, 44 annexation of West Bank, 50, 99, 238, 241, 275 Aqaba, 3, 5, 7, 31, 36, 39, 40, 47, 113, 114, 117, 118, 160, 192,241 aqal, head-rope, 181 aqtd, war chief, 175

aql, reason, 278 Aqsa, mosque, 229 arab, nomads, 156, 290 Arab conquest, 26 Arab Higher Committee, 42, 43, 47, 48 Arab-Israeli War, 10, 47-48, 83, 92, 113, 115, 130, 133, 188, 269 Arab League, 45, 48, 54, 58, 73, 99, 100, 106, 108-111, 113 Arab Legion, 36, 41, 44, 47, 48, 53, 61, 95 arifa, judge, 235 Armenians, 19, 229, 230 ashirah, sub-tribe, 168 ataba, folk song, 265 awarif ed-damm, blood judges, 235 Azhar, theological university, 227, 228

Azraq, 21, 194 Baath (Resurrection) Party, 52 Baghdad, 260 Baghdad Pact, 58, 59, 60, 61, 82, 86

Baghdad Railway, 29 Bahais, 22 Balfour Declaration, 34-35 Baker, W. G., 29 baqqara, cattle nomads, 156 Basil an, 25 Bedouin Control Board, 41 Bedouins, see nomads Beirut, 31, 41, 117, 197, 260, 271 Belqa, 10, 20, 31, 32, 40, 159, 163, 166, 170, 191, 192 Benedictines, 20 Beni Hasan, tribe, 20, 193, 196 Beni Sakhr, tribe, 32, 37, 66, 157, 159, 163-166, 191-192 bet shar, tent, 179 Bethlehem, 8, 16, 17, 20, 29, 32, 42, 68, 83, 117, 218, 223, 230, 264 Bevin, Ernest, British Foreign Sec­ retary, 45 bezok, musical instrument, 266 bint amm, cousin, 139

INDEX bravery, 285-286 British Mandatory rule, 17, 51, 73, 82, 86, 183, 193, 195, 204, 206, 246, 275 Bunche, Ralph, 48 Bunger Plan, 123-124 Byzantines, 13, 25 Cabinet, 91-92, 271 Cairo, 41, 59, 63, 67, 69, 78, 151, 152, 197, 218, 227, 260 Canaanites, 13 Cantonization plan, 42 Carmelites, 20 Caucasus, 20 censorship, 271 census of Jordan, 10, 136, 252 Chamber of Deputies, 54, 56, 60, 62, 91 Chamoun, Camille, 56 Chechen (or Shishan), 21, 46, 223, 226 Christians, 16, 17, 25, 31, 32, 79, 128, 223, 224, 225, 229, 242, 249, 264, 266 Churchill, Winston, 35 Circassians, 20-21, 32, 38, 40, 46, 200, 223 class structure, 218-221 commerce, 103-105, 183-184 communism, 54, 64, 67, 69, 71, 93, 134, 135, 270, 295 Constantinople, 29 constitution, 46, 54, 90-91, 93, 223, 228, 251, 257 cooperatives, 99, 206 Council of Ministers, 44 Council of Notables, 46, 90, 92-94 Council of Representatives, 90, 93 crafts, 184 Crusades, 19, 26, 27, 28, 161 Cust, Archer, 42 dabka, dance, 267 daff, tambourine, 267 Damascus, 29, 33, 38, 41, 56, 58, 61, 66, 72, 78, 87, 166, 260, 267, 292 Dana Muslim, tribal group, 157 Dar al-Harb, House of War, 77 Dar al-lslam, House of Islam, 77, 229

darbaka, clay drum, 267 daribiyye, money judges, 235 Dead Sea, 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 25, 29, 115, 118, 160, 163, 168 Decapolis, 25 density of population, 10 descent groups, 16-22 dhimmi, protected peoples, 79 dignity, 288 dim, homing ground, 164, 167, 184 divorce, 141, 148, 150-151 Diwan Khass, special council, 94 diyah, blood money, 228 Dominicans, 20 Druzes, 16, 22 Dulles, John Foster, 67 Edom, 25 education, 18, 39, 78, 92, 142-145, 147, 221, 223, 255-261, 270 Egypt, 3, 19, 41, 45, 47, 57, 59, 60, 62-64, 67-72, 74, 110, 111, 162, 168, 214, 229, 270, 285 elections, 46, 52, 56, 59, 62, 63 England, see Great Britain Eritrea, 19 ethnic groups, 14-15 evil eye, 234, 279-280, 295 Executive Council, 38, 44 Executive, 91-92 eyn al-sharr, evil eye, 279 fakhed, sub-tribe, 168, 173 family, 77, 84, 89, 136-155, 205, 207, 211, 217, 219, 275, 284, 287, 288, 289, 298 Faysal I, King of Iraq, 34 Faysal II, King of Iraq, 55, 56, 61, 69, 70,71,72 fellahin, 32, 283, 290 fendeh, sub-tribe, 168 finance, 96-103 firqa, sub-tribe, 168 folk art, 262-264 folk music, 265-267 folk poetry, 268 France, 63, 82 Franciscans, 20 Franks, 28 Galilee, 31, 42, 47, 200 Gaza, 30

INDEX ghazzu, raid, 160, 185 Ghor, 6 ghul, demon, 279 Gilead, 25, 191 GIubb, John Bagot, 44, 53, 61 Great Britain, 33, 44, 45, 52, 57, 59-64, 70, 75, 85, 86, 96, 97, 100, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113 Greater Syria Plan, 45, 53, 54 Greek Catholic (Melkite) Arabs, 19, 229 Greek Orthodox Arabs, 17, 18-19, 223, 229, 230 Greeks, 13 guest house, 201 hadar, settled people, 156 Haddah and Bahrah agreements, 38 Hadith, 224, 291 hajin, type of song, 265 hajj, pilgrimage, 159, 227 hamulah, family-group, 77, 84, 139, 149-150, 168, 171-172, 173, 174, 207-208, 217-218, 275, 282 Hanafi school, 229 Hanbali school, 229 hara, quarter, 217, 218, 293 Haram, sanctuary, 251 Haram al-Sharif, Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem, 229 al-Hasa, 114 Hashim, Ibrahim, 45, 59, 62, 68 hashish, opium, 243 hashshashin, assassins, 243 hattata, sorceress, 234 Haiti Humayan, Turkish edict, 30 Haiti Sherif, Turkish edict, 30 Hawazim, tribe, 234 Hawran, 31, 163, 165 Hayari, Ali, 65, 66 Hebrews, 13, 25 Hebron, 8, 10, 16, 25, 29, 32, 59, 83, 131, 132, 229, 247, 251 Hellenism, 25 henna, 181 hijab, amulet, 279 Hijaz, 29, 34, 35, 39, 41, 44, 86, 163, 191, 224, 225 Hijaz railway, 5, 33 Hijra, emigration of Muhammad from Mecca, 224 Hillal, Fuad, 71

Homs, 157 honor, 288-289 horr, free man, 162 hospitality, 286-287 hospitals, 39, 246-247 Howetat, tribe, 159-160, 163, 164, 165, 169, 170, 191, 192-193, 196 Husayn, King of Jordan, 55-59, 61, 64-72, 86, 91, 197, 230 Husayn, Sherif of Mecca, 33, 34, 36, 39, 45, 57, 198 Husayn, Taha, 292 Husayni, Haj Amin al-, 42, 43, 49 Husn, 39 Ibn Saud, King, 36, 39, 43, 44, 54, 81, 293 Ibn Shalan, Rwala chief, 157 Ibrahim Pasha, 29, 30, 31 Idris, King of Libya, 71 ifraz, land distribution, 204 iima, consensus of opinion, 226 ILO, 252 imam, prayer leader, 209, 210, 226, 227, 231, 250 industry, 105, 107, 113-118 infant mortality, 140, 244 inheritance, 122, 138, 153 Innab, Brig.-Gen. Radi, 61 interpersonal contact, 292-295 lradah, edict, decree, 90 Iran, see Persia Iraq, 3, 5, 34, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 54-56, 58, 62, 67-69, 71, 74, 76, 82, 86, 110, 117, 157, 188, 225, 226, 267, 270 Iraq Petroleum Co., 39 Iraqi-Turkish Pact, 58 Irbid, 39, 83, 95, 131, 132, 216, 247 Ishmael, 77, 163 Islam, 80, 81, 87-88, 212, 222, 223-229, 253, 277-279, 296 Israel, 3, 5, 8, 19, 21, 47, 48, 5758, 61, 63, 64, 72, 84, 85, 123, 124, 200, 272 Istiqlal Party, 41, 42 Jaffa, 29 jami, large mosque, 227 Jarmuk River, 5, 6 Jawf, 38

INDEX Jawlan, 31, 32 (see Jolan) Jebel Druze, 38 Jebel Harun, 25 Jenin, 8, 83 Jerash, 21, 22, 39, 40 Jericho, 5, 8, 23, 33, 59, 83, 231 Jerusalem, 8, 10, 20, 30-33, 39, 41, 42, 47, 48, 55, 56, 59, 65, 66, 83, 86, 117, 128, 131, 132, 133, 202, 216, 229, 242, 243, 246, 247, 251, 255, 263, 271, 272, 273, 284, 294, 299 Jerusalem corridor, 8 Jews, 31, 83, 99, 225 Jidda, treaty of, 36 jiftlik lands, 191, 203 jihad, holy war, 77, 227 jinni, demons, 279 Johnson-Crosby Report, 123 Johnston, Eric A., 124 Jolan, 20, 157 (see Jawlan) Jordan River, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 29, 30, 48, 124, 251 Jordan Valley, 6, 8, 22, 32, 57, 83, 119, 124, 126, 159, 162, 166, 168, 191, 194, 198, 238, 241, 243 Jordanian army, 46, 62, 64 Judaea, 8, 31, 42, 43, 47, 123 Judaean Desert, 8, 166 Judaism, 224 Judiciary, 93-95 kafiyya, head cloth, 181 kalam, talk, 287 Karak, 10, 17, 29-32, 39, 68, 95, 117, 159, 161, 169, 223, 247,

260 katb el-ketab, signing of marriage contract, 147 Khalidi, Dr. Huseyn Fakhri, 6566, 67 khalifa, calif, 226 Khalifeh, Mustafa, 72 khamseh, group of relatives, 172173, 235, 236 khatib, preacher, 209, 227 Khatib, Anwar, 55 khutbeh, engagement, 147 khuwwah, protection money, 156, 161, 167, 169, 175, 183, 187, 192, 195, 235

Kirkbride, Sir Alec S., 46 kohl, antimony, 181 Koran, 153, 209, 224, 235, 253, 266, 277, 279, 291 kuttab, Koran-school, 209-210, 249 labor, 128-135, 182 Lake Tiberias, see Sea of Galilee land ownership, 121-123 languages, 253-256, 290-292 law courts, 93-95, 214, 216 law, tribal, 235-237 Lawrence, T. E., 33-35 League of Nations, 35, 36 Lebanon, 26, 45, 47, 56, 71, 82, 107, 110, 111, 124, 247, 252, 267, 270, 285 Legislative Council, 38, 39 Legislature, 92-93 Lejah, 38 linguistic groups, 16-22 liwa, district, 40 Maan, 10, 35, 36, 39, 40, 60, 95, 114, 159, 165, 191, 192, 194 maaza, goat-nomads, 156 Madaba, 11, 32, 39, 192, 218, 223 madafah, guest-house, 208, 210 Mafraq, 45, 46, 67, 70 mafruz, individually owned land, 203-204 mahdi, savior, 227 Main plan, 123, 124 Majali, Hafiz, Major-Gen., 66, 68 Majali, Haza al-, Prime Minister, 59, 60 Majelle, Turkish civil law code, 30 majlis, council, 173-176 Maliki school, 229 mana, a type of folk song, 265 Mandate for Palestine, 34, 35, 76 maqam, local shrine, 231, 232 marhaban, welcome, 294 markab, sacred litter, 234 marriage, 145-148, 277, 289 masjid, mosque, 227 matruka, public land, 202 mawat, "dead" land, 202, 203 mawlid, birthday of a saint, 232 McMahon, Sir Henry, 33-34 Mecca, 223, 224, 225, 227

INDEX Medina, 29, 224, 233 menshed, blood judges, 235 mijana, folk song, 265 millet, religio-ethnic groups, 80, 223, 228-229 mineral resources, 114-115 minorities, 22, 80, 218, 276 miri, state land, 202, 203 Moab, 25, 191 Mohammed Ali (Mehemet Ali), 30 Moore, G. H., 29 morbidity, 242-244 mortality, 244-245 Moses, 25 mosques, 201, 209, 227, 230, 263 motion picture theaters, 273-274 muallimin, commission merchants, 104 muazzin, prayer caller, 227 muballe, ordeal judge, 235 mubashshe, ordeal judge, 235 mufti, religious leader, 227, 231 Mufti, Said el-, 58, 59, 62, 65 Muhammad, 223-224, 228, 232, 266, 295, 296 mukhtar, village headman, 208209, 216 mulk, freehold land, 202 Mulki, Fawzi Pasha, 46, 55, 56 muntaqa, district, 40 musha, jointly owned land, 203204 music, 184, 267; cf. folk music Muslim Brotherhood, 57, 230 Muslims, 31, 242, 244 mutawalli, administrator, 250 Nabataeans, 25 Nablus, 8, 10, 21, 25, 29-31, 55, 65-67, 83, 131, 132, 133, 202, 229, 246, 247, 272 Nabulsi, Sulayman, 53, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 nafs, soul, 278 Nahda (Revival) Party, 46 nahiyah, administrative district, 186

Naif, Emir, 54 Naqb Ashtar, 114 narghilah, water pipe, 182, 183 Nashashibi, Raghib Bey, 42

Nasser, Gamal Abdel, President of Egypt, 70, 72 Nassir, Fuad, 54 National Assembly, 92 National Defense Party, 42, 43 nationalism, 73-75 natur, village watchman, 207 Naur, 21, 40 nawar, gypsies, 266 nay, reed flute, 266 nefes, see nafs Negeb, 31, 33, 43 Negroes, 81 nesem, soul, 278 Nestorians or Assyrians, 20 nomads, 9, 20, 32, 156-198, 232, 244-245, 255, 275, 279, 281, 284, 290, 297 nutrition, 239-241 Ottoman Empire, 20, 28, 30, 74, 80, 280; cf. Turkey painting, 264 Palestine Arab Party, 42 Palestine, partition of, 43, 47 Pan-Arabism, 75-76, 93 Parliament, 46, 53, 72, 92, 134, 198, 271 Peake, F. G., Captain, 36, 44 Peel, Earl, 43 Persia, 225, 226 Petra, 25, 32, 40 physical types, 13-14 poetry, 268-269; cf. folk poetry Point Four, 82, 107, 124, 248, 260 political parties, 41-42 population, 12 press, 253-254, 270-272 pride, 289-290 proletariat, 294 prose literature, 269-270 Protestants, 20, 223 qabilah, tribe, 168 qadi, judge, 227 qadr, fate, 232 Qahtan, 77, 163 qahwah, coffee, 174 qalb, heart, 278 qalid, peace negotiator, 235 Qalqilya, 83

INDEX qanun, harp, 266 qasaba, reed flute, 266 qasida, type of song, 265 Qays and Yaman, 15-16, 41, 77, 162-163 Qunaytra, 20, 32 Quraysh, tribe, 223 qurba, good deed, 250 Quwwatli, Shukri al-, 61 rababa, violin, 184, 266 radda, musical contest, 266 radio, 254, 272-273 Ramadan, 227, 233, 268 Ramallah, 8, 17, 55, 65, 83, 133, 149-150, 216, 218, 223, 246, 264, 267, 272 Rammun, village, 22 Rassafil, village, 40 raw, raiyye, shepherds, 161 Red Sea, 5 refugees, 10, 14, 50, 53, 57, 59, 72, 83-85, 92, 106, 112, 114, 121, 129, 134, 162, 214, 217, 238, 240, 242, 252, 258, 267-268, 269, 275 Regency Council, 54-55 religion, 79, 152-153, 191, 219, 222-237, 298 religious groups, 16-22 Rifai, Samir, 54, 60, 61, 71, 72 riqq, tambourine, 269 Roman Catholics, 17, 19, 223, 229 Romans, 13 Robinson, Edward, 29 Royal Commission, 43 ruh, spirit, 278 ruhhal, nomads, 156 Rusayfa, 21, 114 Rwala, tribe, 38, 156, 157, 159, 162, 163, 164, 166, 169, 173, 177, 181, 234 Sadat, Anwar, 59 Salah, Walid, 58 salam, peace, greeting, 287, 294 salat, prayer, 226 salib, cross, 161 Salt, 17, 20, 31, 39, 83, 159, 216, 223, 246 Samaria, 8, 31, 42, 43, 47, 123 Samaritans, 21-22, 31, 223

samiyeh, name-group, 168, 172 Samuel, Sir Herbert, 35, 36 sani, artisan, blacksmith, 162 sanitation, 241-242 sanjaq, province, 31 Saud, King, 56, 58, 66, 68-72 Saudi Arabia, 3, 5, 36, 38, 39, 42, 44, 45, 47, 56, 59-63, 68, 70, 71, 139, 156, 159, 166, 171, 187, 229, 293 sawm, fast, 227 Scott, Major, 29 sculpture, 264 Sea of Galilee, 5, 6, 22, 124 sedentarization, 186-198 semrt, butter, 182 Senate, 52 Shaab Party, 42 Shafii school, 229 shahada, testimony, 226 Shammar, tribes, 162, 165 Shariah Courts, 94, 147, 228 Shariah law, 153, 186, 235 shaykh, chief, 173-176, 235 shaykh el-bab, peace chief, 175 shaykh el-harb, war chief, 175 shaykh esh-shdad, war chief, 175 Shiites, 21, 22, 77, 223, 225-226 shirq, heresy, 226 shrines, 231, 266, 280 shruqi, a musical style, 265 shwaya, shepherd tribes, 156, 160, 166, 167, 168, 178, 188 Sinai Desert, 33 Sirhan, tribe, 160, 163, 165 Sleyb, tribes, 161, 234 social insurance, 252 solidarity, 287 Soviet Union, 67, 69, 70 Suez Canal, 33, 62 Sufism,224 Sukhne, 21, 40 sulhah, peace ceremony, 237 summiyeh, see samiyeh Sunna, tradition, 226 Sunnites, 21, 77, 222-223, 226, 229 suq, bazaar, 184, 215, 263 Surra, purse, 159 Suwaylih, 21 Symonds, Captain, 29 Syria, 3, 5, 16, 21, 26, 31, 34, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 47, 59-63, 65,

INDEX 67-74, 76, 82, 107, 110, 124, 156, 157, 162, 166, 167, 179, 187, 195, 200, 252, 255, 262, 263, 264, 270, 292 Syrian Desert, 156, 157, 162, 173, 185, 193, 199, 233 Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Arabs, 20 Syrians, 13 taam, food, 287 Tabuk, 36 Tafile, 39, 40 takht, orchestra, 267 Talal, King of Jordan, 53-54, 90 Tanzimat, reforms, 30 taqarrub, approach to God, 250 taqsim, musical improvisation, 266 tatwib, land division, 204 tawhid, declaration of the oneness of God, 226 taxation, 100-103 Templar, Gen. Sir Gerald, 59 thawb, long sleeved shirt, 181 theater, 267-268 Toukan, Sulayman, 68 towns, 211-221, 282-283, 285 trade, 105-113 Transjordan Frontier Force, 37 transportation, 104 Tulkarm, 83, 260 Turcomans, 22 Turkey, 29, 36, 71, 86, 225, 229, 249, 266 Turkish rule, 26, 27, 218, 262 Turks, 32, 33 ud, lute, 266 ulama, authorities in Muslim law, 228 unions, 133-135 United Nations, 45, 47, 84, 111, 238, 243, 245, 248, 250, 252 United States, 56, 57, 58, 60, 63, 67-69, 71, 85, 97, 107, 108, 111, 112, 114, 124, 125, 127, 260, 288 UNESCO, 243 UNICEF, 240, 246

UNRWA, 59, 83, 85, 97, 98, 107, 109, 112, 113, 129, 130, 135, 206, 240, 246, 258 UNSCOP, 47 urbanization, 51 Urdunn, daily paper, 62, 69 urf, customary law, 153, 186, 234235 values, 233, 280-301 vengefulness, 288 verbality, 290-292 villages, 199-211, 276, 281, 287, 290, 297 wadi, stream, 164 Wadi Araba, 5, 6, 7, 10, 160, 168 Wadi Musa, 25, 40 Wadi Sir, 21, 40 Wadi Sirhan, 157, 160, 165, 166, 192 Wahhabis, 36-37, 160, 229 wajh, face, honor, 288-289 wali, saint, 231 waqf, religious endowment, 203, 223, 228, 249-251 wasm, brandmark, 180 wasqah, group of relatives, 172, 236 westernization, 51, 74, 79, 81-82, 88-89, 139, 141, 151, 152-153, 154-155, 212-213, 217, 220, 222, 253-254, 264, 282, 284, 285, 287, 295-301 women, 148-150 World War I, 22, 32-33, 57, 80, 82, 159, 165, 280 World War II, 44, 82, 130, 213214, 269 White Paper of 1939, 43 Yaduda, village, 32, 165 Yarmuk, River, 117, 124 Yemen, 42, 43, 45, 226 Yugoslavia, 111 zakat, alms, 226-227, 248-250 Zayn, Queen, 66 Zerqa, 21, 39, 40, 65, 83 Zionist Organization, 34 zuyud, money judges, 235