JORDAN Map Geography People Economy Military Lib of Congr Country Study
Occupied and annexed Arab Palestinians in West Bank from 1948-1967
Attacked Israel in 1948 with the declared intent of destroying her
Jordan got at first 77% of original 1922 Palestine Mandate (120,000 sq km), occupied the West Bank in 1948, annexed her in 1950, claimed in 1964 the full 100% including Israel and the then Egyptian occupied Gaza Strip:

Prohibited citizenship for Jews
Prohibited selling land to Jews and executed violators, from 1995 "it is impermissible for foreign persons or corporate entities that do not hold an Arab nationality to purchase, lease, or own directly or indirectly any immovable property"
Arab Hashemites rule Palestinian majority - Discrimination of Palestinians
Arab Palestinian assassinated in 1951 Jordanian king
Civil war with Palestinians and invasion by Arab Syria (Black September 1970)
Impunity for "honor" killings of women - Women have no right to divorce
Restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly and association
Peace treaty with Israel since 1994
Agreement of trade and economic cooperation with Israel since 1995
Arab Jordan demands land back from Arab Syria
Arab Jordan occupies land belonging to Arab Syria

Compare Freedom Score of Jordan (Partly Free) and Israel (Free)
Source: Freedom House (PDF, 187 KB)

Compare Human Development Index of Jordan (0.743) and Israel (0.905) (PDF, 670 KB)
Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2003

Compare Corruption Index of Jordan (4.5), Israel (7.3), Germany (7.3) and USA (7.7)
Source: Transparency International (PDF, 1.8 MB)

The case against Jordan (Alan M. Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard, JP, Oct. 7, 2003): "Jordan has a law on its books explicitly prohibiting any Jew from becoming a citizen, or any Jordanian from selling land to a Jew. It has refused to amend this law despite repeated demands.

Jordan has perfected the art of torture and uses it routinely against dissidents, suspected terrorists and perceived opponents of the monarchy. I'm talking about real torture here, not the kind of rough interrogation occasionally employed by the US and Israel. Jordan even threatens to torture and tortures the entirely innocent relatives of suspected terrorists, as it did with Abu Nidal's mother. ...

Jordan killed more Palestinians in one month September 1970, known as Black September than Israel has killed during the three years of suicide bombings that began in the fall of 2000. The brutality of the Jordanian Army toward Palestinian dissidents and terrorists was far more egregious than anything Israel has ever done.

The Jordanian Army has deliberately bombed civilian areas of Israeli cities in clear violation of international law. In 1967, before Israel fired a single shot at Jordan, the Jordanian Army fired 1,600 missiles into west Jerusalem, targeting apartment buildings, shops and other non-military targets. Israel did not respond by bombing Amman, which it easily could have done. It responded by attacking Jordanian military targets and then offering a cease-fire, which Jordan rejected.

JORDAN IS not a democracy. It is a hereditary monarchy which stifles dissent, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Its democratic facades a legislature, cabinet, judiciary are all subject to control by the Hashemite minority rulers who were placed in charge of the majority Palestinian population by a colonial decision."

Jordanian Nationality Law (Law No. 6 of 1954, last amended 1987), Article 3: "The following shall be deemed to be Jordanian nationals: ... (2)Any person who, not being Jewish, .."

Discrimination of Palestinian Majority (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Jordan - 2001 - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of U.S. Department of State): "Palestinians residing in Jordan, who make up more than half of the population, suffer discrimination in appointments to positions in the Government and the military, in admittance to public universities, and in the granting of university scholarships. The Government granted citizenship to all Palestinians who fled to Jordan in the period after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and to a large number of refugees and displaced persons who arrived as a result of the 1967 war. However, most refugees who fled Gaza after 1967 are not entitled to citizenship and are issued 2-year passports valid for travel only. In 1995 then-King Hussein announced that West Bank residents without other travel documentation would be eligible to receive 5-year Jordanian passports. However, the Government has emphasized that these passports are for travel only and do not connote citizenship ..."

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Jordan - 2001 (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of U.S. Department of State): "There are significant restrictions on citizens' right to change their Government. Citizens may participate in the political system through their elected representatives in Parliament; however, the King has discretionary authority to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and upper house of Parliament, to dissolve Parliament, and to establish public policy. Other human rights problems included police abuse and mistreatment of detainees; allegations of torture; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of transparent investigations and accountability within the security services; prolonged detention without charge; denial of due process of law stemming from the expanded authority of the State Security Court and interference in the judicial process; infringements on citizens' privacy rights; harassment of members of opposition political parties; and significant restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association. A law enacted by the Government in October gave the Government broad powers to restrict and prosecute journalists and close publications. This law effectively superseded the 1999 amendments to the Press and Publications Law, which had reduced somewhat the restrictions in previous laws regarding the ability of journalists and publications to function and report freely; however, significant restrictions continued to be in effect. The Government limits academic freedom. The Government imposes some limits on freedom of religion, and there is official and societal discrimination against adherents of unrecognized religions. The evangelical Christian community reported fewer incidents of governmental harassment during the year. There are some restrictions on freedom of movement. Violence against women, restrictions on women's rights, and societal discrimination against women are problems. The law still allows for reduced punishments for violent "honor crimes" against women for alleged immoral acts. Child abuse remains a problem, and discrimination against Palestinians persists. Abuse of foreign domestic servants is a problem, and child labor occurs ... Women experience legal discrimination in matters of pension and social security benefits, inheritance, divorce, and the value of court testimony. In Shari'a courts, a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man (see Section 1.e.). The Government provides men with more generous social security benefits than women. The Government continues pension payments of deceased male civil servants to their heirs but discontinues payments of deceased female civil servants. Current laws and regulations governing health insurance for civil servants do not permit women to extend their health insurance coverage to dependents or spouses. However, divorced and widowed women may extend coverage to their children ... Under Shari'a as applied in the country, female heirs receive half the amount of male heirs and the non-Muslim widows of Muslim spouses have no inheritance rights .. The law requires a married woman to obtain her husband's permission to obtain a passport."

Jordanian Parliament Supports Impunity For Honor Killings (Human Rights Watch): (Washington DC, January 27, 2000) -- Human Rights Watch today condemned the failure of the Jordanian Lower House to end impunity for men who murder female family members in the name of preserving the "honor" of the family. "For too long, men in Jordan have been getting away with murder," said Regan Ralph, executive director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. "This vote is a slap in the face of Jordanian women who have been organizing to stop the killings." ... This is the second time in two months that the Jordanian Lower House has failed to abolish Article 340 of the Penal Code, which provides for lenient sentences when men kill their female relatives in the name of "honor." Parliamentarians justified their defense of honor killings as protection of Jordan's traditional and moral values against western influences. ... Human Rights Watch further called on the Jordanian parliament to provide protection for women threatened by their family members on the basis of "honor," and to abolish other laws that discriminate against women, including the rape law, citizenship law, passport law, and social security law."

Honor killing in national legal codes (Wikipaedia, Jul 19, 2006): Part of article 340 of the Jordanian Penal Code states that "he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty."

Jordanian parliament rejection of two provisional laws on the right of the woman to get divorced and so-called "honor killing." (ArabicNews, Aug 11, 2003)

Amnesty International Report 2002 (Jordan): "Hundreds of people, including prisoners of conscience, were arrested for political reasons. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by members of the security services. Trials of most of those charged with political offences continued to be heard before the State Security Court whose procedures did not meet international fair trial standards. Around 13 people were sentenced to death and at least nine people were executed. There were at least 19 cases of family or ''honour'' killings. Three people linked to Islamist groups remained in forcible exile."

AN INTERIM REPORT ON THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE (Herbert Samuel, British High Commisioner, 1921): "Included in the area of the Palestine Mandate is the territory of Trans-Jordania. It is bounded on the north by the frontier of Syria, placed under the mandate of France; on the south by the kingdom of the Hejaz; and on the west by the line of the Jordan and the Dead Sea; while on the east it stretches into the desert and ends--the boundary is not yet defined--where Mesopotamia begins."

In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine, that incorporated the Balfour Declaration, and charged the Mandatory to secure the Jewish National Home while safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion. Recognizing "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The area of the Palestine Mandate included the territory of "Trans-Jordania" (Art 25 of the Mandate for Palestine).

In September 1922, the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to "Transjordan", which constituted three-fourths of the Mandate for Palestine territory and which eventually became the Kingdom of Jordan. See Palestine Order in Council (Aug 14, 1922): "This Order In Council Shall Not Apply To Such Parts Of The Territory Comprised In Palestine To The East Of The Jordan". Therefore, in many ways, Jordan is actually an Arab Palestinian state with an Arab Palestinian majority ruled by an Arab dynasty.

Jordanian stamp from 1950: The Jordanian occupation and official annexation of the West Bank and East-Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock (all these were never before Jordanian) is called "Unity of Jordan". The Jordan River and the Death Sea are shown in the center of the country; in reality, the areas west of the Jordan River and the Death Sea never belonged to Jordan.

1964 Palestine Liberation Organization Covenant, article 24: “This Organization [the PLO] does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in the Gaza Strip or the Himmah area.”

King Hussein of Jordan, official website, Jan 7, 2006): "In 1950, a Jordanian parliament in which Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank were equally represented voted unanimously to unite the West Bank of the Jordan River with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in order to safeguard the remaining Arab territory of Palestine from Zionist expansion. ... [On July 30, 1988 the Jordanian King Hussein - MEI] formally dissolved Parliament, ending West Bank representation in the legislature. Finally, on July 31 he announced the severance of all administrative and legal ties—with the exception of guardianship over the Muslim Holy Sites of Jerusalem—with the occupied West Bank."

Of the original 1922 League of Nations Palestine Mandate to establish the Jewish National Home (120,000 sq km), Israel received only 17% (20,330 sq km), while Arab Jordan received 77% (91,971 sq km). Golan Heights (1,200 sq km): 1%.

The remaining 5% are today the West Bank (5,860 sq km) and Gaza Strip (360 sq km) under Israeli or Arab Palestinian rule, their current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, their permanent status to be determined through further negotiation. Their total area of 6,220 sq km is matching equivalent to a circle with a radius of only 45 km. This is 1/2400 (0.04%!) of the total area of the Arab world & Iran (15.15 million sq km).

Black September in Jordan 1970-1971 (OnWar): During a bitterly fought ten-day civil war, primarily between the PLA [Palestinian Liberation Army] and Jordan Arab Army, Syria sent about 200 tanks to aid the fedayeen. ... Under attack from the Jordanian army and in response to outside pressures, the Syrian forces began to withdraw from Jordan on September 24, having lost more than half their armor in fighting with the Jordanians. ... Al Fatah abandoned its earlier posture of noninvolvement in the internal affairs of an Arab state and issued a statement demanding the overthrow of the Jordanian "puppet separatist authority." In a subsequent early May [1971] statement, it called for "national rule" in Jordan. Against this background of threats to his authority, [King] Hussein struck at the remaining guerrilla forces in Jordan. ... Hussein became virtually isolated from the rest of the Arab world, which accused him of harsh treatment of the [Palestinian] fedayeen and denounced him as being responsible for the deaths of so many of his fellow Arabs."

The End of 'Arafat'. Even if he lives, the idea of him must die. (Wall Street Journal, Sep 17, 2003): "If you look at the Nobel Prizes' own biography of Yasser Arafat, you find this remarkable sentence toward the end: 'Like other Arab regimes in the area, however, Arafat's governing style tended to be more dictatorial than democratic.' That is to say, Arafat by his own choice of governance--dictatorship over democracy--bears individual responsibility for the legacy he leaves. That legacy includes: the contemporary crime of hijacking and blowing up civilian-filled airliners; the attempted destabilization of Jordan and Israel and the successful destruction of Lebanon as a formerly sovereign nation; and decades of violated international agreements, culminating in the collapse of Oslo. ... has made possible any crime, culminating in the anti-moral act known as suicide bombers."

Is Jordan Palestine? (Daniel Pipes)

Out of Jordan (Uriya Shavit, Haaretz, July 17, 2003)

Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty of 26 October 1994 (UNISPAL, Mar 5, 2004)
The Agreement of Trade and Economic Cooperation between Israel and Jordan entered into force on May 1, 1995 (MOF, Mar 5, 2004)

Jordan related documents at Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Library of Congress's Country Studies (Jordan)
CIA World Factbook (Jordan)