Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Occupation of the West Bank and East
Jerusalem by Jordan
Rule of the West Bank and
East Jerusalem by Jordan. The West Bank and East Jerusalem were ruled by
Jordan for a period of nearly two decades (1948 - 1967) following the
1948 Arab-Israeli War. They were under Jordanian occupation between 1948
and 1950; in 1950, Jordan annexed them. Like the later Israeli acts
concerning the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, this annexation was not
officially recognized by most countries, the United Kingdom (but not, as
is however often said, Pakistan) being an exception.
Jordanian conquest of 1948
According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, a large part of Palestine
including the areas that came under Jordanian control were to have
become an independent Arab state, but neither the Palestinians nor any
Arab state accepted the partition. On 10 May, Golda Meir represented the
Yishuv in the last of a series of clandestine meetings between the
Zionists and Transjordan's King Abdullah that had taken place over the
previous two years. Whereas for months there had been a tacit agreement
between the Zionists and Transjordan to prevent the establishment of a
Palestinian state, with Transjordan taking over the Arab areas, at the
May 10 meeting Abdullah offered the Yishuv leadership only autonomy
within an enlarged Hashemite kingdom. This was unacceptable to the
Jewish leadership. However, Meir was left with the impression that
Abdullah would make peace with a Jewish state (Morris, 1999, p. 221) and
in fact the Transjordanian army did refrain from attacking the
designated Jewish areas of Palestine in the ensuing war. As early as
1946 Abdullah had informed Alec Kirkbride, the British Resident in
Amman, that he and his prime minister Ibrahim Pasha Hashim were in
favour of partition and an exchange of populations between Transjordan
and the Jewish state-to-be (Morris, 2003, p. 58).
Following the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel,
May 14, 1948, seven Arab states entered Palestine and engaged Israeli
forces. Although nominally the leaders of the attack, the Jordanian Arab
Legion under the leadership of Sir John Bagot Glubb, known as Glubb
Pasha, was given orders to not enter the terroritory of the Jewish state
defined by the partition plan. It was also initially ordered to stay out
of Jerusalem, but this order was reversed when it became clear that
Israel was attempting to take the city. See 1948 Arab-Israeli War#Third
phase: May 15, 1948 - June 11, 1948.
"A key feature of the Arabs' plans was the complete marginalization of
the Palestinians... This aptly reflected the political reality: The
military defeats of April-May had rendered them insignificant. The Arab
League through the first half of 1948 had consistently rejected
Husseini's appeals to establish a government-in-exile... Under strong
pressure from Egypt, which feared complete Hashemite control over the
Palestinians, the League Political Committee in mid-September authorized
the establishment of a Palestinian 'government.'" (Benny Morris,
Righteous Victims)
On September 22, 1948, the All-Palestine Government was established in
Gaza captured by Egypt, and on September 30, the rival First Palestinian
Congress, which promptly denounced the Gaza "government", was convened
in Amman.
By the end of the war, Jordan forces had occupied the West Bank and East
Jerusalem. On April 3, 1949, Israel and Jordan signed an Armistice
Agreement. The main points included:
* Jordanian forces remained in most positions they held in the West
Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, and the Old City.
* Jordan withdrew its forces from its front posts overlooking the Plain
of Sharon. In return, Israel agreed to allow Jordanian forces to take
over positions in the West Bank previously held by Iraqi forces.
* A Special Committee was to be formed to make arrangements for safe
movement of traffic between Jerusalem and Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew
University, along the Latrun-Jerusalem Highway, free access to the Holy
Places, and other matters.
The remainder of the area that had been designated as Arab under the
partition plan was partly occupied by Egypt (the Gaza Strip), partly
occupied and annexed by Israel (West Negev, West Galilee, Jaffa). The
intended international enclave of Jerusalem was divided between Israel
and Jordan, both eventually annexing their portions.
During this period, Jordan's rulers regarded themselves as the rightful
heirs to the whole of Palestine. Rather than attempting to establish an
independent Palestinian state for its West Bank subjects, it formally
annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank on April 24, 1950, giving all
resident Palestinians automatic Jordanian citizenship. (They had already
received the right to claim Jordanian citizenship in December 1949.)
Only the United Kingdom formally recognized the annexation of the West
Bank, excluding East Jerusalem. (Pakistan is usually stated to have
recognized Jordan's acts also but this is apparently false [1].)
Jordanian rule
Unlike any other Arab state to where Palestinian refugees fled, those in
the West Bank and East Jerusalem were given Jordanian citizenship along
with the existing residents. However, many of the refugees continued to
live in camps and rely on UNRWA for sustenance. Palestinian refugees
constituted more than a third of the kingdom's population of 1.5
million.
In the Jordanian parliament, the West and East Banks received 30 seats
each, having roughly equal population. The first elections were held
April 11, 1950; although the West Bank had not yet been annexed, its
residents were eligible to vote. The last Jordanian elections in which
West Bank residents would vote were those of April 1967, but their
parliamentary representatives would continue in office until 1988, when
the West Bank seats were finally removed.
Agriculture remained the primary activity, the more so since the West
Bank, despite its smaller area, contained half Jordan's agricultural
land. In 1966, 43% of the labor force (55,000 workers) worked in
agriculture, and 2,300 km˛ were under cultivation (numbers that have
fallen considerably since.) In 1965, 15,000 workers were employed in
industry, producing 7% of the GNP; this number fell after the war, and
would not be surpassed until 1983[2]. The tourism industry also played
an important role. 26 branches of 8 Arab banks were present. The
Jordanian dinar became legal tender, and remains so there today.
There was a significant flow of population from the West Bank to East
Bank, in particular to the capital, Amman.
Tensions continued between Jordan and Israel through the early fifties,
with Palestinian guerrillas and Israeli commandos crossing the Green
Line despite the Jordanian army's efforts to prevent both occurrences.
The Qibya massacre, in which an Israeli commando unit killed 50
civilians within the West Bank in retaliation for Palestinian
infiltrators' killing of three Israeli civilians, is one of the best
known examples.
Abdullah I of Jordan, who had became Emir of Transjordan in 1921 and
King in 1923, was assassinated in 1951 during a visit to the Al-Aqsa
Mosque on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman
following rumors that he was discussing a peace treaty with Israel. The
trial found that this assassination had been planned by Colonel Abdullah
Tell, ex-military governor of Jerusalem, and Dr. Musa Abdullah Husseini.
He was succeeded by his grandson King Hussein of Jordan once he came of
age in 1953, after his father Talal's brief reign.
Six Day War loss
Following the outbreak of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel warned
King Hussein not to join Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser in
opening a new front against Israel in the West Bank. Nevertheless, in
accordance with its mutual defense treaty with Egypt, Jordan initiated
artillery fire on Israeli positions in West Jerusalem. The Israel
Defense Forces counter-attacked and heavy urban fighting ensued.
The Israel Defense Force had long planned to capture East Jerusalem and
completely pushed the Jordanian army out of the West Bank. The formerly
Jordanian-controlled West Bank and its one million Palestinian civilians
were placed under Israeli military rule. About 300,000 Palestinian
refugees were forced to flee to Jordan.
Rapprochement and peace
Prior to the arrival of the PLO in the West Bank as part of the
diplomatic praparations for the 1993 Oslo Accords, King Hussein formally
ended Jordan's pro-forma control over the West Bank in a ceremony with
PLO chairman Yassir Arafat. Finally in 1994 Jordan signed the
Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace officially ending its conflict with
Israel.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_West_Bank_and_East_Jerusalem_by_Jordan
Back to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
|
|
