Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hussein's lasting legacy, however, extends beyond his successful domestic policy. Throughout his reign he main-
tained close and friendly ties with Britain and courted trade with the West. From his sustained efforts at diplomacy
to avert the 1991 Gulf War to his peace agreement with Israel in 1994, the urbane and articulate king of a country in
one of the world's toughest neighbourhoods came to be seen as a beacon of moderateness and stability in a region
known for neither attribute. This reputation was secured in 1997 when a Jordanian soldier shot and killed seven Is-
raeli schoolgirls in northern Jordan. King Hussein personally attended the funeral in a public display of grief and
solidarity with the Israeli families.
Hussein married four times and fathered 11 children. He was a highly popular man with many interests and was
an accomplished pilot. After a long battle with cancer, during which time he continued his role as peace negotiator
between Israel and Palestine, he died in Jordan in February 1999. He was greatly mourned not just by those who
knew him but by Jordan and the region at large.
He is now regarded as a man who firmly steered the nascent country of Jordan through potentially devastating
crises, balancing the demands of Arab nationalism against the political expedience of cooperation with Western in-
terests. In so doing, he helped pave the way for Jordan's modern role in the world as a bridge between two ideolo-
gies.
The Six Day War
After a period of relative peace and prosperity, conflict between Arab and Israeli forces
broke out again in the 1960s, culminating in the Six Day War, provoked by Palestinian
guerrilla raids into Israel from Syria. When the Syrians announced that Israel was amass-
ing troops in preparation for an assault, Egypt responded by asking the UN to withdraw its
Emergency Force from the Egypt-Israel border. Nasser then closed the Straits of Tiran
(the entrance to the Red Sea), effectively sealing the port of Eilat. Five days later Jordan
and Egypt signed a mutual defence pact, dragging Jordan into the oncoming hostilities.
On 5 June 1967 the Israelis dispatched a predawn raid that wiped out the Egyptian Air
Force on the ground. In the following days they decimated Egyptian troops in Sinai and
Jordanian troops on the West Bank, and overran the Golan Heights in Syria.
The outcome for Jordan was disastrous: it lost the whole of the West Bank and its part
of Jerusalem, which together had supplied Jordan with its two principal sources of income
- agriculture and tourism. It also resulted in yet another huge wave of Palestinian
refugees.
Black September
After the 1967 defeat, the frustrated Palestini-
ans within Jordan became increasingly milit-
ant, and by 1968 Palestinian
fedayeen
(guer-
PLO
