By Hana Levi Julian, JEWISH PRESS
Jordan’s former Crown Prince Hamza bin Hussein is under house arrest, and at least 20 others were reportedly arrested in connection with a planned coup attempt against the Hashemite King Abdullah II, according to multiple Arab media reports and one from the Washington Post Haaretz.
Jordanian military leaders asked Hamza to cease “movements and activities that might be used to target Jordan’s security and stability,” as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a statement by Jordan’s official Petra news agency.
A second royal, Sharif Hassan Ben Zaid, was also arrested “on security grounds”, according to Reuters, quoting Petra.
One other prominent official was also arrested: US-educated former Finance Minister and envoy to Saudi Arabia, Bassem Awadallah, Petra reported.
No other details were provided.
Saudi Arabia responded swiftly, saying Riyadh supported Abdullah’s decisions and measures “to preserve security and stability” and face any attempt to affect them.
According to the intelligence source, the arrests came in connection to a complex and far-reaching plot that also included Jordanian Bedouin tribal leaders and members of the country’s security establishment.
Senior Jordanian officials sent a message to Israel on Saturday saying “the situation is under control” and there is no threat to the stability of the kingdom. The message was passed through Jordanian military officials to their Israeli counterparts, according to Hebrew-language Israeli journalist at Walla! News and Axios, Barak Ravid.
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Hamza, the eldest son of the late King Hussein and his fourth and final wife, American-born Queen Noor, was named Crown Prince of Jordan in 1999; but the title was revoked by Abdullah, his oldest half-brother, in 2004.
There have been numerous other coup attempts against the Jordanian monarchy in the past decades, including several against the late King Hussein, who made peace with Israel.
In November 2012, organizers in the secular Hirak opposition movement that had begun two years earlier launched four days of protests said to be inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings elsewhere in the region. The protesters called for King Abdullah to hand over the throne to Hamza, age 32 at the time. Some 90 people were arrested and charged with launching the violent protests that also called for adoption of a constitutional monarchy similar to that of the UK.
Peace between Israel and Jordan had been in force already for well over a decade by then.
On Oct. 26 1994, the Hashemite Kingdom and the Jewish State signed a peace treaty in a ceremony held in the Arava valley in Israel, north of Eilat and near the Jordanian border. As part of that treaty, Israel promised to respect the “special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem” — the most prominent being the Al Aqsa Mosque in the Temple Mount compound, where Hussein’s grandfather King Abdullah was assassinated.
In late November 1972, the Jordanian military foiled an attempt to overthrow then-King Hussein. An attempt to assassinate the king and his brother, Crown Prince Hassan, came several months after Hussein had expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by PLO chief Yasser Arafat in response to the PLO guerrillas’ attempt to seize control over Jordan.
In a final official act just prior to his death on Feb. 7, 1999, King Hussein defined the line of succession, removing his brother Hassan as successor and naming his eldest son, then-37-year-old Abdullah, to follow him on the throne.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
His father’s father Talal, the eldest son of Abdullah reigned after his father was assassinated, but was half-witted so, after a year or so, was quietly locked up somewhere. So Humpty Dumpty’s grandfather was bonkers. Also Abdullah 1’s father, Hussein the Sharif of Mecca, was also unhinged, and died in Amman, escaping from exile in ;Cyprus. Even Abdullah got fed up with him and exiled him from Amman to Aquaba, but when he got a stroke he allowed him to come back to Amman where he died about 5-6 years later. .
Mustapha Kemal declared the Ottoman Empire extinct in 1924, but Hussein didn’t accept it. He had been proclaiming himself as Caliph of ALL the Arabs right through the War even after Kemal’s annou/ncement. As I said, he was mentally deranged. Refused to accept the situations as they happened, and kept insisting he was the Caliph.
I read a long account of the period some years ago. very interesting, and barbaric, especially what went on inside the Palace at Istanbul, where the Caliphs were “confined”. Constant and plentiful intrigues all the time involving the mothers of a varierty of half-brothers, with favoured eunuchs, power grabbing and horrendous murders of many brothers, potential rivals to the throne.. Many a royal brother ended up in a sack thrown into the Bosporous.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Hamza is actually 41,……… just a kid.
@ Sebastien Zorn: Just a guess–the Jordanaian economy has collapsed. COVID19 is said to be spreading out of control. The king and his court’s lavish lifestyle are resented when so many Jordanian’s have been impoverished. The king is rumored to be addicted to gambling. Some sources claim that he has begun to show signs of mental instability.
This is the Jordan Times version of the crisis. Much of this is reprinted verbatim from the official government news agency Petra’s communique. The JT adds some reports of foreign support for Abdullah.
Reason(s) for the coup? The article doesn’t bother to speculate.
@ Ted Belman: Hamzah is not a boy but a man in his thirties. The conspirators apparently intended to make him the new king to replace Abdullah.
Oh, Wow! Abdullah was in worse trouble than I thought. Still, with his usual snake-like ability to wriggle out of a trap. A very slippery and clever man.
One ace up his sleeve that he used to (for now) stay in the game is support from foreign regimes. The U.S., Britain, and all the Gulf states announced their support for Abdullah. Also Egypt. Since Jordan is bankrupt and has few exports, it depends on the these foreign countries to provide whatever little income Jordanians have. The military and police depend on these foreign countries to pay their salaries. And so, when the crisis came and the trap was about to be sprung, they decided , at least for now, to stick with Abdullah.
They also may fear that Israel, the United States and Britain may decide to intervene militarily to support Abdullah. The military and police chiefs may fear being on the reciving end of these countries bullets.
Still, it looks like the purge of much of Jordan’s political elite will leave the king more isolated than ever.
Curious that the military is speaking and neither the King nor his son have released a statement.
Also the military’s communique to Israel sounds a bit awkward:
Restated: “Just a little coup attempt in a state rocked by violent uprisings for over a year, now. Nothing to worry about.”
The communication to Israel kind of reminds me of the line from Star Wars where Han Solo awkwardly states, “We’re all fine. Here. Now. Thankyou…How are you?”
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