Hussein and PLO Battle ‘for Hearts of the People’ on Israel’s Occupied West Bank

King Hussein of Jordan, stunned by negative reaction on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip to his suspension of political cooperation with the Palestine Liberation Organization, has undertaken a campaign combining pressure and persuasion to reinforce his standing in those Israeli-occupied territories.

“This is the battle for the hearts of the people,” a prominent pro-Jordan resident of Arab East Jerusalem said. “Jordan now seems to be serious about defining the terms of who is loyal to Jordan and who is against Jordan.”

The campaign’s tactics include harassment of pro-PLO West Bank residents traveling to Jordan on business and quiet support for a new East Jerusalem newspaper aimed at fostering what its editor calls a more realistic attitude toward Palestinian political possibilities.

According to sources here and in the Jordanian capital of Amman, the king, by going over the heads of the PLO to Palestinians in the territories, is trying to force the leadership into a more pliable negotiating stance, one that could break the deadlock blocking Mideast peace talks.

Columnist’s Metaphor

Meanwhile, friction between the PLO and the king has increased political tension on the West Bank, placing the residents, as an Israeli newspaper columnist put it, “between the hammer and the anvil.”

Amman ruled the West Bank of the Jordan River for 19 years after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that followed the founding of modern Israel. The Israelis captured the area in the Six-Day War of 1967, and as of next month they will have occupied the area for the last 19 years. Nevertheless, most West Bank residents still have Jordanian passports, West Bank towns and universities depend heavily on Jordanian financial support and thousands of residents still receive salaries from Amman.

Also, most people in the West Bank have relatives living in Jordan, where about 70% of the population is Palestinian. More than one-fourth of the world’s Palestinians live in Jordan. Another fourth live in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip areas, while 15% live within Israel’s pre-1967 borders as Israeli citizens.

Thus, Jordan claims a special interest in the West Bank, even though Arab leaders concluded at a 1974 conference in Morocco that the PLO is “the sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people.

Joint Negotiations Accepted

For a time, Hussein and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat seemed to be pulling in the same direction. In February, 1985, they announced agreement on a joint negotiating stand toward Mideast peace talks. But that initiative foundered, with Jordan blaming PLO recalcitrance and the PLO attributing the failure to U.S. refusal to grant it official recognition.

Whatever the cause, Hussein announced in a major speech in February that he had suspended political cooperation with the PLO. He implied that Arafat had broken his word.

The speech touched off a renewed struggle for political influence on the West Bank, where the previous year had seen pro-PLO and more moderate pro-Jordan elements maintaining at least the appearance of unity.

Ten days after Hussein’s speech, the moderate mayor of Nablus, the largest city on the West Bank, was assassinated, and his funeral turned into one of the largest Palestinian nationalist demonstrations in the territories since 1967. Marchers chanted, “Down with Hussein!” and “Hussein is a pig!” Some carried photographs of Arafat.

Bad Stage Management

A senior Jordanian official said in Amman that West Bank reaction against the king reflects bad stage management on the part of the authorities rather than any real opposition to Hussein.

The official acknowledged that the king intended to go over the PLO’s head to the people, but he insisted that the question is one of tactics, not loyalties. Yet, bad handling of the situation in Amman turned it into a plebiscite between Jordan and the PLO and was bound to embarrass Hussein.

The incident, he said, “brought the relationship between the PLO and the Jordanian government to a state that is more strained than really represents the long-term policy of his majesty’s government.”

Long-term policy or not, pro-PLO Palestinians report that Jordan is using its political muscle against the organization, and they say the tactic is further alienating West Bankers.

The pro-PLO East Jerusalem daily newspaper Al Fajr said in a recent issue: “Since the Feb. 19 speech by King Hussein in which he suspended coordination with the PLO, the Jordanian authorities have been carrying out a campaign of harassment against Palestinians living in Jordan, as well as West Bankers traveling to Jordan.

Couldn’t Transact Business

The campaign has included barring known PLO supporters, especially those who voiced support for the PLO after Hussein’s speech, from entering Jordan. West Bank residents who traveled to Jordan recently said they were delayed while trying to renew their passports or get any other official business done.

Unofficial sources in Amman said that some Jordanian journalists known to be close to the PLO have been blacklisted and that as many as 17 Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin have been expelled and others arrested.

Referring to the heavily traveled Jordan River crossing from the West Bank to Jordan, a Palestinian nationalist who has been barred from entering Jordan commented: “Once we leave the Israeli bridge, we expect to breathe different air.” But now, he said, “we’re treated worse” by the Jordanians than by the Israelis.

The flow of money from Jordan to the West Bank has slowed, but this appears to be a reflection not so much of political pressure as of economic troubles brought on by lower oil prices.

The Jordanian official noted that Saudi Arabia, for at least the last three years, has been the only Arab nation to fulfill its financial pledge to a joint Jordanian-PLO committee set up to supply money to West Bank universities and municipalities and for other uses. Now, he said, even the Saudis have missed their last two quarterly contributions, totaling about $19 million.

New Paper

But there appears to be enough money to finance the king’s effort to bolster his image on the West Bank. East Jerusalem businessman Othman Hallak confirmed in an interview that he has Jordanian support for his new weekly newspaper, to be called An Nahar (The Day). However, he said, “we want to be seen as true, authentic Palestinians and not as pro-Jordanian.”

Hallak said: “I think that we can help to show the people--to open their eyes to the problem that is really facing them; to bring them down to earth from their dreams; to stop looking at the stars and to start looking at what is possible. It’s fine to say, ‘I want an independent Palestinian state led by the PLO.’ Everybody wants that. But what are the possibilities for success?”

Hallak insisted that no one is trying to undermine Arafat’s leadership of the PLO. “But at the same time,” he said, “we don’t want to be a lost cause because of the failure of the leadership to take a firm stand on what are the real issues under occupation.”

Published polls indicate a large West Bank majority behind the PLO, although most of the people questioned said they favor a settlement with Israel based on a return of West Bank land in exchange for peace.

Pro-Palestinian marchers chanted ‘Hussein is a pig!’