It cannot be stressed enough that the king belongs to an endangered minority in Jordan, the 20% or so of Bedouin tribesmen loyal to him. The rest of his citizens are Palestinians who have arrived over the past seven decades. They’re doing well there, and when they don’t, the Legion and the secret police make sure they behave, occasionally massacring them by the tens of thousands.
But permit a direct, daily contact between armed Palestinian forces and the Hashemite Kingdom, and the fireworks would start shortly thereafter.
Jordan already is a home to 1.2 million Syrian refugees. Crime is on the rise, employment is down, gun purchases are up. Jordan’s office of the interior said some 120 thousand weapons were sold there last year, and an estimated 1 million unregistered weapons are in circulation. Jordan does not another porous border.
This is why King Abdullah insists on being informed about the negotiations, if not on actually being a participant. He’s also been opposed to the fast pace of Kerry’s team. His former prime minister, Ma’ruf al-Bakhit, working on behalf of the king, has been recommending to the Palestinians to slow things down. He cautioned them that this is the wrong time for a final deal with the Israelis, because the entire Arab league is busy putting out their own fires at home, and would have no resources left to back the Palestinians internationally.
Al-Bakhit has also stated that Jordan should be a direct partner in the talks, seeing as it would have to pay a price, no matter the outcome. And Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh has told the Amman press that a royal team has been present in some of the sessions.
The Obama team has a chance to add Jordan to the list of pro-western Arab states it and its predecessors have demolished.
The fun never stops.