Politics, The Military and National Security in Jordan 1955-1967 (St. Antony's)

198 Pages·2003·0.94 MB·English

by  Lawrence Tal

Politics, the Military, and
National Security in
Jordan, 1955–1967
Lawrence Tal
St Antony’s Series
General Editor: Richard Clogg(1999–), Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford
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Politics, the Military, and
National Security in
Jordan, 1955–1967
Lawrence Tal
© Lawrence Tal 2002
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
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First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tal,Lawrence,1962–
Politics,the military and national security in Jordan 1955–1967 /
Lawrence Tal.
p.cm.– (St.Antony’s series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–333–96398–9
1.Jordan – Politics and government – 1952–1999.2.Jordan – Military
policy.3.National security – Jordan.I.Title.II.St.Antony’s series (Palgrave
(Firm))
DS154.55 .T334 2002
956.9504(cid:1)3—dc21 2002072331
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Notes on Transliteration and Usage ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction xi
List of Abbreviations xv
Map of Jordan xvi
1 Jordan’s National Security Establishment 1
The national security problem in Jordan 1
The setting for national security policy 2
Jordan’s regional predicament: a tough neighbourhood 5
The domestic environment 7
Jordan’s national security establishment 10
The monarchy 11
The political elite 14
The military 16
Conclusion 18
2 Between Imperialism and Arabism 20
The Baghdad Pact 20
Jordan’s ‘British ruler’ 21
The dawning of a new era 25
A ‘Glubbless’ Jordan 26
Cohesion lost: Arabisation 30
The Suez affair 34
Conclusion 37
3 Radicals versus Royalists 38
Jordan’s first free parliamentary elections 38
Suleiman al-Nabulsi: Jordan’s Kerensky? 39
The foreign aid controversy 40
The royalists retaliate 42
Al-Nabulsi counterattacks 43
v
vi Contents
Showdown at al-Zarqa 44
Was there a coup planned? 46
The left’s golden moment 49
Cohesion restored: the royalist consolidation 51
Conclusion 53
4 The July Crisis 54
The Arab Cold War 54
Reactions to the AU 56
Plans for a coup d’état 57
The Iraqi revolution 58
Requesting Western assistance 60
Operation Fortitude 62
The royalists strike back 63
UN intervention 65
Foreign policy successes 66
Conclusion 66
5 Confronting the United Arab Republic 67
‘Marketing’ Jordan in Washington 67
The last coup attempt 69
The Hazza` al-Majali administration 72
The ‘Third Force’ concept 73
Western versus Jordanian concepts of security 75
Reforms enter the security equation 76
The assassination of Hazza` al-Majali 77
Hussein’s UN speech 80
Easing tensions with the UAR 80
Playing the military card 81
The collapse of the UAR 85
Conclusion 86
6 From Reforms to Rapprochement 87
‘The birth of modern Jordan’ 87
The White Paper on Palestine 89
Rival security policies 90
The controversial Yemen policy 91
The April 1963 riots 93
The Israeli factor 95
Rapprochement with Egypt 96
Conclusion 97
Contents vii
7 In Nasser’s Grip 98
The first Arab summit 98
The challenge of the PLO 99
The Palestine conference 100
Jordanian views on the PLO 101
The pro-Egypt camp returns 102
Dissension in the national security establishment 103
The emergence of al-Fatah 104
Tensions at the Casablanca summit 106
The UAC and the military restructuring 107
Conclusion 108
8 Jordan’s March to War 109
The al-Sam`u raid 109
Al-Sam`u’s effect on security policy 111
The gathering storm 111
The conventional wisdom 112
The alliance with Nasser 113
Placing the army under Egyptian command 115
Abandoning the mobile defence concept 116
The final mistake 117
A catalogue of errors 119
After the storm 120
Conclusion 124
Conclusion 125
Appendix:Biographical Sketches 131
Notes 136
Select Bibliography 169
Index 179
List of Illustrations
2.1 The Arab Legion Household Cavalry rides into
Nablus during King Hussein’s triumphant visit following
the dismissal of General Glubb, 7 March 1956 29
4.1 King Hussein receives pledges of loyalty at the height of
the crisis from the Jordanian Army in al-Zarqa on
9 August 1958 64
5.1 King Hussein and Chief of Staff General Habis
al-Majali (right) at the Army Day parade, 25 May 1961 82
6.1 A soldier of the famed Arab legion guards
King Hussein and Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tell (right) as
they ride through Amman, 1962 88
8.1 King Hussein and Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser sign
the mutual defence treaty in Cairo, 30 May 1967 114
viii
Notes on Transliteration
and Usage
The only diacriticals included in the Arabic transliteration are `ayns (`)
and hamzas ((cid:1)). Commonly accepted English forms, particularly those
used in Foreign Office and Department of State diplomatic correspon-
dence, are used for some personal and place names. For example,
Hussein, Abdullah, Faisal, Abdel Nasser, Saud, and Amman are used
throughout the text and notes.
ix