The revolution and pacts (37), Jordan ‘vacillating'. Shortly after the signing of the Baghdad Pact in February 1955, a high-ranking British military delegation visited Amman to probe the possibility of convincing Jordan to join the pact. Arab nationalist propaganda, especially on the part of Palestinians and Radio Cairo, raised a storm of protest denouncing the pact and the Jordanian monarchy as ‘tools of Western imperialism' and a ‘sellout to the Jews'. In December, the same year, King Hussein asked Hazza' Al-majali to form a government. Shortly after forming the Cabinet Majali stated unequivocally that he intended to take Jordan into the Baghdad Pact. His Announcement triggered demonstrations and rioting in Amman, so violent that the Arab Legion (name of the Jordanian Army at that time) was called in to restore order. The Majali government resigned after less than a week in power, and it became clear that Jordan would not become a signatory of the Baghdad Pact. In March 1956, King Hussein, responding to public reaction against considering adherence to the Baghdad Pact, attempted to show his independence from Britain by dismissing General Glubb as Commander of the Arab Legion. He appointed General Ali Abu Nawar, known for his nationalist sympathies, as Glubb's successor. The name of the force was officially changed to the Jordan Arab Army, and British officers were phased out of service. Time Magazine of December 26, 1955 described the serious situation in Jordan as follows: “Last week, another Arab nation prepared top join the new anti-communist Baghdad Pact, but not without the kind of scuffing in the streets that so often passes for soul-searching in the Middle East. The prospective new member is the poor desert state of Jordan, which is under the wing (but not the thumb) of Great Britain. Britain sent its top soldier, General Sir Gerald Templer, to Jordan with a tempting proposition: If Jordan would join the Baghdad Pact, with Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, Britain would boost its aid programme (currently $24 million a year), replace the present Anglo-Jordanian treaty with a new one more favourable to Jordan, and increase the size and armoured strength of Jordan's British-trained Arab Legion, whose 20,000 men are the best Arab troops in the Middle East. “Templer's diplomacy worked well enough to win over some of Jordan's leaders, including 20-year-old (Harrow '51-'52) King Hussein. Last week, Premier Said El-Mufti and four Cabinet members who opposed the pact resigned, and the King promptly appointed a new Cabinet headed by a young (36) lawyer. Hazza el-Majali. The new government was ready to accept Templer's package proposals, but first it had to survive a tough test of its authority, mainly among rthe country's half million destitute Arab (Time would not say Palestinians-the author) refugees, who are easily inflamed to violence. “The way to stir up the mobs is to identify the Baghdad Pact with the West, to identify the West with Israel, and then to stir up hatred of Israel. “Serious troubles erupted next day throughout the nation after the noon prayers in the mosques. Worshippers came storming forth, crying epithets against the Baghdad Pact and the US, attacked emergency patrols of the Arab Legion with sticks and stones. A tight censorship closed down over the capital city of Amman, but some details got out. In the Arab half of Jerusalem, the US Consulate was surrounded and stoned, while the wives and children of the US staff huddled in the safest place in the buildings: the stonewalled lavatories. At week's end, El-Majali's new government was still in control, but at least 40 people had been killed, some 300 arrested, and mobs were still milling in the streets.” [email protected]
