No Signs of Mobilizing in Jordan : Military: Western diplomats discount Israeli reports that Amman is gearing up for war.

Here on the banks of the Jordan River just a shout from Israel and the Israeli-held West Bank, signs of the military preparedness that Israeli officials have called “unusual” were not in evidence Saturday.

In the small Jordanian military bases dotting the hills that rise steeply from the valley, and along the main road that nudges the trickle of a river, there were no signs of a special buildup or precautions.

Western diplomats observing the situation in Jordan said that although the Jordanian army is on alert, there have been no extraordinary troop movements, nor has Jordan called up its reserve force of 35,000 troops to augment its regular 80,000-member army.

One senior Israeli military officer was quoted by reporters Friday as saying that the Jordanian army is in “a high state of alert and is behaving in an unusual fashion,” that Jordan’s King Hussein is preparing his people “for a possible war in the very near future,” and that Israel is watching developments “very carefully.”

The idea that Jordan would want to provoke Israeli concern by suddenly making heavy preparations for war sounded unlikely to the diplomats and to Jordanian observers.

“It seems to me that Israel is sending a message, perhaps telling Jordan not to do these things, not to mobilize,” said a Western European diplomat. “In general, there has been an aggressive campaign in Israel to suggest Jordan is helping Iraq in every way. It is provocative.”

The diplomat said his embassy had been notified by the Jordanian government that the army is in a state of “pre-mobilization,” which includes reinforcement of northern and southern corridors into Jordan.

Other diplomats say Jordan has told its soldiers not to travel abroad.

Some of the information spread by Israeli officials speaking last week in Tel Aviv seemed to be totally untrue. For instance, they said air-raid sirens have been sounding daily in Jordan; in fact, the sirens sounded once, a week ago, in what was publicly described as a test.

Israel has also exaggerated the number of Jordanian volunteers for a “popular war” that pro-Iraq politicians have promoted. Observers and Jordanian officials say the government itself is taking no steps to train or otherwise make arrangements for anyone to join the Iraqi army.

On television Saturday night, nurses and police officers gave instructions to the population on where to go in case they are hurt in warfare. Many Jordanians, especially in Amman, have stocked up on food or withdrawn cash from banks. However, shelves in the many mom-and-pop grocery stores throughout the city remain full of canned goods that would normally be the first things to be grabbed in a general panic.

“We don’t notice any particular move by the Jordanian government that is out of place given the general situation,” said another Western diplomat. “Jordan has made it clear that they feel a threat from the West--from Israel--but Jordan is not taking any aggressive steps.”

Besides warning of a Jordanian buildup, Israel has criticized Jordan for not stopping shipping into the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

The news from Israel has prompted head-scratching here among nervous Jordanian officials.

“Jordan is always worried about Israeli attitudes and are more worried now,” said the European diplomat.

A Jordanian politician said the government generally believes that such pronouncements from Israel are designed more to prepare the Israeli public for conflict than to accurately describe Jordanian capabilities.

“Israel has its own agenda,” the politician said.

Political columnist Kamel abu Jaber remarked: “We are sitting ducks here, and Israel is setting a climate of fear in motion. Who knows what they will do? They describe us as hysterical. Frankly, we should be hysterical.”

On Saturday, Jordanian officials were huddled in high-level meetings to discuss the Middle East crisis and Jordan’s role in it. So far, Jordan has supported Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, although the government has criticized Baghdad’s annexation of the oil-rich state.

Jordan’s King Hussein has declined to apply a U.N.-sponsored trade embargo against Iraq. Jordan has permitted goods moving through the port of Aqaba to cross Jordan and enter Iraq. The country has also maintained its large two-way trade.

Reports circulating among diplomats and Jordanian observers here said that King Hussein came away from last week’s visit with President Bush without any agreement to let Jordan partially breach the embargo. Hussein has argued that Jordan’s economy depends heavily on trade with Iraq, from which Jordan receives most of its oil.

Local journalists who attended a briefing with the king said Jordan is seeking $1.2 billion compensation for losses it would incur if it fully observes the embargo and shuts its port of Aqaba to Iraqi trade, Reuters news service reported Saturday.

Jordanians noted that symbolically, the king’s U.S. visit was cold. They said the king was unhappy to be kept waiting in Washington a day before meeting Bush on Friday and that he was greeted not at the White House but at Bush’s vacation hideaway in Maine. All this was taken as a slight, the Jordanians said.

Hussein faces a delicate problem. Jordanian public opinion heavily favors Iraq. Most of Jordan’s residents are of Palestinian origin and view Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as a power capable of confronting Israel.

In Deir Alla, clusters of men sipping coffee under shade trees expressed support for the king and for Saddam Hussein. “Saddam can push Israel out,” said a youth named Hassan, pointing vigorously across the river to the green fields on the other side.

Deir Alla is a collection of shops and houses lining the two-lane road that hugs the river. The town lives off banana and orange groves that are fed by the meager trickle of the Jordan River.

The men gathered at the roadside said they had seen no convoys of troops on the road and that the military checkpoints always present on the highway were no more stringent than usual.

Reporters traveling in the area were ushered through the checkpoints with only a brief glance at their passports. No one asked them where they were going or what they were doing there.