:::::: Jordan::::

History of Jordan


[edit] Beginnings


Though Jordan emerged as a nation-state in modern times, the name "Al-Urdun" (The Jordan) was used by the Umayyads (661-750 CE) to refer to a (military) province, known, then as Jund Al-Urdun. Al-Urdun primarily consisted of parts of northern Palestine (Filastin) and parts of northwestern, modern-day Jordan and included cities such as Akka (Acre), Tabariyya (Tiberias), Baysan (Bet Shean/Scythopolis) and Jerash (Gerasa). In fact, there exist Umayyad copper fulus coins bearing the Arabic inscription "Bismallah thuriba bil-Urdun"("In the name of God, struck in Jordan"). These coins are undated, but thought to have been minted in Al-Urdun's capital, which was situated at Tabariyya.
There also exist rare lead seals from the Umayyad era from the time of the Umayyad Caliph Abd Al-Malik Bin Marwan (685-705) inscribed with the Arabic phrase "Halahil Arth Al-Urdun" ("Master of the Land of Jordan"). One such specimen can be found in Dr. Nayef G. Goussous's book "Rare and Inedited Umayyad Copper Coins" (2004 Jordan National Bank).

With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations created the French Mandate of Syria and British Mandate Palestine. Approximately 80% of the British Mandate of Palestine was east of the Jordan river and was known as "Transjordan". In 1921, the British gave semi-autonomous control of Transjordan to the future King Abdullah I of Jordan, of the Hashemite family. Abdullah I continued to rule until a Palestinian Arab assassinated him in 1951 on the steps of the Mosque of Omar. At first he ruled "Transjordan", under British supervision until after World War II. In 1946, the British requested that the United Nations approve an end to British Mandate rule in Transjordan. Following this approval, the Jordanian Parliament proclaimed King Abdullah as the first ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, which had been under its control since the armistice that followed the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The annexation was recognized only by the United Kingdom (de facto in the case of East Jerusalem).
King Abdullah I.



In 1965, there was an exchange of land between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Jordan gave up a relatively large area of inland desert in return for a small piece of sea-shore near Aqaba.
Jordan signed a mutual defence pact in May 1967 with Egypt, and it participated in the June 1967 war against Israel along with Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. During the war, Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israel (the western sector having been under Israeli control). In 1988, Jordan renounced all claims to the West Bank but retained an administrative role pending a final settlement, and its 1994 treaty with Israel allowed for a continuing Jordanian role in Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.




The 1967 war led to a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians, especially from the West Bank, living in Jordan. Its Palestinian refugee population — 700,000 in 1966 — grew by another 300,000 from the West Bank. The period following the 1967 war saw an upsurge in the power and importance of Palestinian resistance elements (fedayeen) in Jordan. The heavily armed fedayeen constituted a growing threat to the sovereignty and security of the Hashemite state, and open fighting erupted in June 1970. The battle in which Palestinian fighters from various Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) groups were expelled from Jordan is commonly known as Black September.
King Hussein



The heaviest fighting occurred in northern Jordan and Amman. The Syrian army battled the Jordanian army in Amman and other urban areas. Egypt worked with the global media to try to portray King Hussein as a corrupt King slaughtering the Palestinian refugees. Other Arab governments attempted to work out a peaceful solution, but by September, continuing fedayeen actions in Jordan — including the destruction of three international airliners hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and held in the desert east of Amman — prompted the government to take action to regain control over its territory and population. In the ensuing heavy fighting, a Syrian tank force invaded northern Jordan to support the fedayeen but subsequently retreated. It is said by some people, such as Ahmed Jibril, that King Hussein asked for help from Israel,^[1] then Israel threatened that it would invade Jordan if Syria intervened.^[2][3] By September 22, Arab foreign ministers meeting at Cairo had arranged a cease-fire beginning the following day. Sporadic violence continued, however, until Jordanian forces led by Habis Al-Majali with the help of the Iraqi forces (who had bases in Jordan after the war of 1967)^[1], won a decisive victory over the fedayeen on July 1971, expelling them from the country.
At the Rabat summit conference in 1974, Jordan agreed, along with the rest of the Arab League, that the PLO was the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people", thereby relinquishing to that organization its role as representative of the West Bank.