HISTORY
The land that became Jordan is part
of the richly historical Fertile Crescent region. Its history
began around 2000 B.C., when Semitic Amorites settled around the
Jordan River in the area called Canaan. Subsequent invaders and
settlers included Hittites, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians,
Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arab Muslims, Christian
Crusaders, Mameluks, Ottoman Turks, and, finally, the British.
At the end of World War I, the League of Nations as the mandate
for Palestine and Transjordan awarded the territory now comprising
Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem to the United
Kingdom. In 1922, the British divided the mandate by establishing
the semiautonomous Emirate of Transjordan, ruled by the Hashemite
Prince Abdullah, while continuing the administration of Palestine
under a British High Commissioner. The mandate over Transjordan
ended on May 22, 1946; on May 25, the country became the independent
Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. It ended its special defense
treaty relationship with the United Kingdom in 1957.
Transjordan was one of the Arab
states which moved to assist Palestinian nationalists opposed
to the creation of Israel in May 1948, and took part in the warfare
between the Arab states and the newly founded State of Israel.
The armistice agreements of April 3, 1949 left Jordan in control
of the West Bank and provided that the armistice demarcation lines
were without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary
lines.
In 1950, the country was renamed
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to include those portions of Palestine
annexed by King Abdullah. While recognizing Jordanian administration
over the West Bank, the United States maintained the position
that ultimate sovereignty was subject to future agreement.
Jordan signed a mutual defense pact
in May 1967 with Egypt, and it participated in the June 1967 war
between Israel and the Arab states of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq.
During the war, Israel gained control of the West Bank and all
of Jerusalem. In 1988, Jordan renounced all claims to the West
Bank but retained an administrative role pending a final settlement,
and its 1994 treaty with Israel allowed for a continuing Jordanian
role in Muslim holy places in Jerusalem. The U.S. Government considers
the West Bank to be territory occupied by Israel and believes
that its final status should be determined through direct negotiations
among the parties concerned on the basis of UN Security Council
Resolutions 242 and 338.
The 1967 war led to a dramatic increase
in the number of Palestinians living in Jordan. Its Palestinian
refugee population--700,000 in 1966--grew by another 300,000 from
the West Bank. The period following the 1967 war saw an upsurge
in the power and importance of Palestinian resistance elements
(fedayeen) in Jordan. The heavily armed fedayeen constituted a
growing threat to the sovereignty and security of the Hashemite
state, and open fighting erupted in June 1970.
No fighting occurred along the 1967 Jordan River cease-fire line
during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, but Jordan sent a brigade
to Syria to fight Israeli units on Syrian territory. Jordan did
not participate in the Gulf war of 1990-91. In 1991, Jordan agreed,
along with Syria, Lebanon, and Palestinian representatives, to
participate in direct peace negotiations with Israel sponsored
by the U.S. and Russia. It negotiated an end to hostilities with
Israel and signed a peace treaty in 1994. Jordan has since sought
to remain at peace with all of its neighbors.
