It seems to me that the 1967 seizure of East Jerusalem was a crafty scheme by the CIA/Israeli combo.... K(isl)ing Hussein was on the CIA's payroll after all:
So soon after his death, it is difficult to assess King Hussein's life and accomplishments as ruler of a small, weak country on the immediate periphery of events that have had deeply divisive effects upon Middle Eastern, European and North American politics. In my opinion, King Hussein was better in some ways and worse in others than his public reputation.
The number of assassination attempts and plots against his life has been exaggerated by Israel and its supporters in the U.S., by the king's own spin doctors, and by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA maintained a cozy relationship, part of it as secret paymaster, with Hussein for 40 years.
His reputation as "the brave young king" was built on events that started with his seemingly miraculous escape from the assassin at the al-Aqsa mosque who killed his grandfather. But the king was, in fact, a brave man, both physically and in making bold decisions, such as the separate peace with Israel. That peace remains unpopular with most Jordanians, whether from the East or West Bank territories.
Nor was King Hussein afraid to throw out Glubb Pasha after Britain's secret collusion with France and Israel to attack Egypt in October 1956. After Glubb and the British were gone, the United States eventually picked up the financial subsidy. But the king didn't know for sure that this would happen when he dismissed the British commander of his army.
A well-known American journalist recently blamed Hussein for opening fire on Israeli forces in Jerusalem after Israel attacked Egypt in June 1967. But the truth is that the stage was set for the sequence of events that enabled Israeli forces to occupy East Jerusalem and the West Bank when, in early 1967, Israeli forces viciously attacked the Palestinian West Bank village of Samu, near Bethlehem, which was under Jordanian administration, killing about 40 villagers.
The "justification" for the Israeli assault was a fake claim of infiltration attacks from Samu on Israel. As Jordanian soldiers moved in with trucks and armored cars to halt the Israeli attack, they were ambushed by Israeli tanks and artillery. More than 200 Jordanian soldiers were killed and a hundred Jordanian vehicles destroyed. All the circumstances point to a carefully planned Israeli provocation.
As a consequence, the king made a defense treaty with Egypt and Syria. When Israel launched its June 5, 1967 "pre-emptive attack" on his new allies, the king fulfilled his treaty obligation to come to their defense. This gave Israel the pretext it needed for a long-planned attack. Within hours Israel had seized East Jerusalem and the entire West Bank, which it still holds.
So the brave young king --B.Y.K. to two generations of Middle East hands-- reigned for 47 years by performing a magical balancing act in the minds of his Western admirers, including especially friends of Israel in the American media, that held old trans-Jordan together. But it will be prudent for all concerned, especially Jordan's new King Abdallah, to keep in mind that deep in their hearts most Palestinians see the Hashemite family-the first King Abdallah, and, despite his many admirable personal qualities, the late King Hussein as well-as having betrayed their chances for a state of their own more than half a century ago.
Andrew I. Killgore, a retired career foreign service officer and former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, is the publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Excerpted from:
washington-report.org |
