More than King of a Poor Nation

By Shibley Telhami
Los Angeles Times

February 7, 1999

King Hussein was not just the king of Jordan but the king of an era. His passing from the scene not only marks the loss of a central figure in Middle East politics in the second half of the 20th century, but also of a dependable, stabilizing force in a troubled region. In the West, the king was known as a long-standing friend and forceful advocate of Arab-Israeli peace. His departure further highlights the aging of many Arab leaders, as well as the winding down of the post-colonial era.

The king's legacy will surely include his peace efforts, but his accomplishments are more extraordinary than that. A teenage king of a small, vulnerable and resource-poor kingdom, surrounded by powerful and ambitious neighbors, Hussein survived and managed to carve out an important role for Jordan under the most difficult of circumstances. He weathered the challenge of Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s; the large influx of Palestinian refugees into Jordan and the loss of the West Bank to Israel after the 1967 war; a civil war with Palestinians in 1970; nonparticipation in the Arabs' most successful war against Israel in 1973; lonely opposition to U.S.-led Gulf War in 1991; and the loss of Iraq as his country's biggest trading partner after that war. Along the way, he engineered benefits for his people, including a bold step toward political openness, among the first in the Arab world.

Many will say Hussein's greatest accomplishment of late was the peace treaty he signed with Israel in 1994. Others will note his extraordinary ability to project sympathy for Israelis in their time of grief. The king's remarkable speech at Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's funeral an 1995 and his personal visits and apologies to Israeli victims of violence are two vivid examples. But his son and successor, Abdullah ibn Hussein, will quickly learn that his father's true gifts of late had more to do with managing Jordanian-Palestinian relations.

For decades, The Palestinian's goal of creating their own state had seemed at odds with Jordan's national interests, which increased the prospect of Palestinian-Jordanian conflict at home. At the same time, the king feared calls within Israel to turn Jordan into Palestine. But by severing his ties with the West Bank and concluding a separate peace with Israel, Hussein reduced much of the tension between Palestinian and Jordanian interests. This success can be harnessed by Abdullah, the king's eldest son, whose wife is Palestinian.

Hussein's successes did not come without a cost. At times, the king shifted alliances as quickly as the desert winds. He was bold enough to do the unpopular, especially in his dealings with Israel, but he always recognized the limits of challenging his public. He did not join the alliance against Iraq in 1990, and he skillfully entered into pacts with Nasser when the popularity of the Egyptian leader seemed irreversible. He won friends in Israel, in the West and among Jordanians and Palestinians, but he also gained enemies and detractors in many parts of the Arab world.

Despite his close links with the West--his Western education, his marriages to Western women--the king always succeeded in protecting his Arab and Islamic credentials, his Jordanian garb. Unlike his brother, Prince Hassan, he cultivated and maintained personal contacts with ordinary Jordanians from all walks of life, personally pressing the flesh on official and public occasions. His distinguished oratory style was easily recognizable to anyone in the Arab world. Even during moments of affection with Israeli leaders--a negative in the Arab world--he came across as a Middle Easterner. One such moment came after a long day of meetings in Washington, when he and Rabin enjoyed deep puffs of smoke in "relief" from the American way--a smoke-free White House.

Personal as Hussein's decision may have been in removing Hassan from the throne, his eldest son's selection ushers in a new generation of potential leaders. What's clear, however, is that youth is not the new leader's problem: At 37, his is twice the age his father was when he ascended to the throne. But it is abundantly apparent that this new leader neither sought the crown nor has been groomed for it.

In the short term, the king's passing is unlikely to lead to instability within Jordan. Hassan will most likely accept his brother's decision and support the new king. The population in Jordan will rally behind Abdullah. Then the real problem will become evident: King Hussein was nor merely a king but a father to Jordan, and his personal clout and great skills enabled him to advance unpopular causes and navigate most challenging circumstances. Jordan's position today remains most precarious. Its economy is struggling. Its peace with Israel is not widely popular, and the absence of full Palestinian-Israeli peace poses internal and external problems. Relations with Iraq remain difficult. Syria's and Saudi Arabia's friendships with Hussein's Hashemite kingdom are publicly correct but skeptical. No one is likely to attack Jordanian sovereignty, but potential meddling in Jordan's affairs is another matter. It is in these areas that Jordan's new ruler will need his father's leadership skills and people's trust. It is here that he will surely be tested every step of the way. He will certainly miss his father, the king of an era.

Shibley Telhami holds the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the niversity of Maryland, and is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Copyright © 1999, Los Angeles Times