Jordan

**Jordan**, officially the **Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan**, is an Arab kingdom in the Middle East on the east bank of the River Jordan. It borders Israel and Palestine to the east, Syria to the north and the United Islamic Republic along the western border.

## History

### Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Century

The Treaty of London was signed by the British Government and the Emir of Transjordan on 22 March 1946 as a mechanism to recognise the full independence of Transjordan upon ratification by both countries parliaments. Transjordan's impending independence was recognized on 18 April 1946 by the League of Nations during the last meeting of that organization. On 25 May 1946 the Transjordan became the "Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan" when the ruling 'Amir' was re-designated as 'King' by the parliament of Transjordan on the day it ratified the Treaty of London.

On 15 May 1948, Jordan invaded Palestine together with other Arab states, and attacked Jerusalem. Following the war, Jordan occupied the West Bank and on 24 April 1950 Jordan formally annexed these territories, an act that was regarded as illegal and void by the Arab League. A motion to expel Jordan from the League was prevented by the dissenting votes of Yemen and Iraq. On 12 June 1950, the Arab League declared the annexation was a temporary, practical measure and that Jordan was holding the territory as a “trustee” pending a future settlement.

After Israel launched a preemptive strike on Egypt to begin the Six-Day War on June 1967, Jordan and Syria attacked Israel and joined the war. It ended in an Israeli victory and the capture of the West Bank. After the war, the numbers and activities of Palestinian paramilitary groups with Jordan grew and threatened the rule of law. Open fighting erupted in June 1970, which escalated into a civil war that became known as Black September. Syria openly supported the Palestinian groups and Jordan asked the United States and Britain to intervene. The Americans intervened by-proxy via Israel, who conducted mock air strikes on the Syrian columns in Jordan.

In 1988, King Hussein dissolved the Jordanian parliament and renounced Jordanian claims to the West Bank. The PLO assumed responsibility as the Provisional Government of Palestine and an independent state was declared. In 1991, Jordan agreed to participate in direct peace negotiations with Israel at the Madrid Conference, sponsored by the US and the Soviet Union. It negotiated an end to hostilities with Israel and signed a declaration to that effect on 25 July 1994. As a result, an Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty was concluded on 26 October 1994.

During the suspension of Parliament between 2001 and 2003, the scope of King Abdullah II's power was demonstrated with the passing of 110 temporary laws. Two of these laws dealt with elections and were criticized as having the effect of reducing the power of Parliament. In 2005, King Abdullah expressed his intentions of making Jordan a democratic country. Thus far, however, democratic development has been limited, with the monarchy maintaining most power and its allies dominating parliament.

### Intervention in Syria

*See Full Article: War against ISIS*

In 2014, Jordan joined the US in intervening against the Islamic State in Syria. Jordan contributed 20 of its General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons to assist the US and her allies, including Canada, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In December 2014, a Jordanian F-16 crashed in Syria, resulting in the capture of its pilot. Video emerged in February 2015 of the pilot being executed by being burnt alive.

In October 2015, IS insurgents attacked a Jordanian-Syrian border crossing, leading to a brief skirmish with Jordanian forces. In response, King Abdullah requested that Saudi Arabia and the United States deploy more troops in order to protect the country from further incursions. In June 2016, IS staged a double car bomb attack in Amman, and attack two US military bases in Jordan, killing 25 US troops and 70 Jordanian troops.

In July 2016, Turkey launched a full scale military invasion of Syria to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the Fertile Crescent. In August 2016 Jordan deployed forces to assist the US in launching a ground offensive into Syria from Jordanian territory. Israel launched its offensive from Golan Heights towards Damascus. By September, the three armies converged on the Syrian capital. Jordanian troops, along with US, Israeli, Turkish and the remnants of moderate Syrian rebel and government forces around the IS capital and stronghold of Damascus and began a long and arduous urban battle for the city against IS diehards.

## Government and Politics

Although Jordan is a constitutional monarchy, the King holds wide executive and legislative powers, serving as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief and appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.
The Parliament of Jordan consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The 150 members of the House are elected from 12 constituencies for four-year terms. The 75 members of the Senate are all directly appointed by the King, also for four-year terms.

The Judiciary is comprised of both religious courts and civil courts. The highest court is the Court of Cassation followed by the Courts of Appeal. Civil courts have jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases, while the Sharia courts have jurisdiction over personal status for Muslims, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Parallel tribunals handle the same matters for non-Muslims.

### Administrative Divisions

Jordan is divided into 12 provinces, called governorates, which are subdivided into 54 departments or districts. The governorates are:

* Irbid
* Ajloun
* Jerash
* Mafraq
* Balqa
* Amman
* Zarqa
* Madaba
* Karak
* Tafilah
* Ma’an
* Aqaba

### Foreign Relations

Jordan maintains a pro-Western foreign policy and maintains close relations with the United States and United Kingdom, and is one of the United States’ principle allies in the Middle East. Since the rise of the UIR as a global power, Jordan has sought closer relations with nuclear armed Turkey and Israel. Syria signed a mutual defence pact with Jordan in 2018, during regional tensions over the Third Lebanon War. In 2023, Jordan, Turkey, Israel, Syria and Palestine signed a mutual defence agreement, which became called the Jerusalem Five.

## Economy

Not a major oil producing nation, **Jordan** relies on tourism, particularly to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. In the early 2020s, Turkey helped finance a HSR line through **Jordan** to the Red Sea port of Aqaba as an export hub for Turkish products to Asia. **Jordan** also completed its first nuclear power plant in this period helping to diversify it's economy off of fossil fuels.