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JORDAN'S KING
HUSSEIN
Searching for Peace
by
Keith W. Stump
Tensions brewing in the t urbulent Middle East may soon thrust
Jordan's King to center stage in the search for peace.
P
erhaps no king and no
people today are more
acutely aware of the
need for lasting peace in t he
Midd le East than are t he
King and people of J ordan.
The stakes are enormous.
Life throughout J ordan is better
today than ever before. Since the
mid-1970s, the country of Jordan
has been enjoying an unprece–
dented economic upsurge. Though
largely barren and witbout oil, Jor–
dan has become one of the world's
most rapidly developing countries.
But continued economic growth
is conditional on
peace.
Were a
major war to erupt once again in
the Middle East, Jordan's economy
would be severely disrupted. Prog–
ress would be set back considera–
bly- perhaps irreparably.
The people of Jordan want and
need peace. But J ordanians are
becoming increasingly concerned
over severa! disturbing externa!
trends that threaten to upset all
they have so painstakingly
achieved.
Wes t Bank Turmoil
Take a brief look, from the Jordan–
ian perspective, at what is occur–
ring just across Jordan's various
borders.
To the west , across the Jordan
River, turmoil and violence are on
the upswing in the West Bank
region. The West Bank was a part
of Jordan for 19 years until Israel
occupied it in the Arab-Israeli war
of 1967.
Today, after 1
S
years of occupa–
tion, the ultimate fate of the
850,000 Palestinian Arabs living
there is still unresolved. The ques–
tion of autonomy, or self-rule, for
the 1.3 mill ion Palestinians living
on the West Bank and in the Gaza
Strip remains a key issue in the
Arab- Israeli dispute.
Arabs call for complete Israelí
evacuation of those areas, clearing
the way for the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state. Israel,
on the other hand, is convinced that
accepting a Palestinian state would
be suicida!, and therefore offers only
a form of limited self-rule under
overall Israelí sovereignty.
Continuing frictions have trig–
gered a wave of demonstrations,
general strikes and clashes between
Israelí soldiers and Arabs. These
incidents give urgent warning that
the existing situation is not work–
able in the long run and could
explode
at any time-possibly pull–
ing Jordan into direct military
involvement.
No one, it seems, knows the
way
to peace in this or any other region
of conflict ( Isa. 59:8).
Rift with Syrla
To Jordan's north lies Syria, with
its formidable Soviet-supplied
army and ai r force- another major
worry for Jordanians.
Jordan's relations with neighbor–
ing Syria have deteriorated signifi–
cantly over recent years. Mutual
suspicions have threatened on
numerous occasions to erupt into
open conflict between the two
countries, who share a 240-mile
common frontier.
Though mired in its own domes–
tic troubles, Syria could prove a
formidable opponent in a war with
Jordan. Syria has a 200,000-man
armed force, nearly three times
larger than J ordan's 70,000-man
army.
But Jordan's experienced armed
force is considered by many ana–
Jysts to be possibly the most effi–
cient in the Arab World. The pro–
posed addition to Jordan's arsenal