Why Jordan Will Be Next to Make a Deal With Israel

With Palestinian self-rule closer to becoming a reality after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed a second agreement last week, the next Middle East breakthrough may well involve the Jewish state and Jordan.

King Hussein hopes to meet “before too long” with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and during a recent visit to Washington, the Jordanian monarch reportedly confided to a group of Jewish-American leaders, “I have met with all the Israeli prime ministers but Begin.” His readiness to admit this “secret” is surprising, though it’s one of the best-known “secrets” in the Middle East. Truth be told, Hussein has met with most of Israel’s prime ministers. Even so, the king has logged more “Israeli hours” than any other Arab ruler.

In the decade following his ascension, in 1953, to the throne, Hussein assigned the task of conducting clandestine encounters with Israelis to his military advisers. Newly declassified State Department documents reveal that as early as September, 1957, Israel’s intelligence operatives were relaying--via the Central Intelligence Agency--secret information to Jordan, warning of “internal movements” that sought to undermine the king’s regime. Later on, the Mossad uncovered and then informed Amman of several plots against the king’s life.

In 1963, Hussein felt sufficiently self-confident to meet face-to-face with Israelis. His first meeting, held in London, was with Ya’acov Hertzog, a top aide of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. The central topic was the Jordan River. Two years later, he met with then-Foreign Minister Golda Meir in Paris, which produced a secret understanding on how to share the Jordan River’s water.

After defeat in the 1967 War, Hussein continued to meet with his enemies, hoping to regain land lost in the fighting--the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In a series of meetings in London with top Israeli ministers, Hussein agreed to sign a peace treaty in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. The pact was never signed, because Israel refused to return all the conquered land. Still, the two sides reached several secret understandings on such topics as aviation safety and ecological threats in the Gulf of Agaba.

After Meir became prime minister, in February, 1969, the king accepted the Israeli explanation that because of her “poor health,” the sites of future talks would have to be in Israel. Some of the locations were downright exotic. One meeting took place on an Israeli missile boat in the Gulf of Agaba, with Mossad agents posing as “waiters.” Altogether, between 1969 and 1973, there were at least 10 secret meetings between Hussein and top Israeli officials, among them prime ministers.

The meetings produced some tangible results, especially in the areas of defense and intelligence. At the request of the Nixon Administration, in 1970, Israel deterred Syrian forces from carrying out their mission to help overthrow the Hashemite monarchy. The Syrians had invaded Jordan to assist PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Direct phone lines were established between Israeli and Jordanian army headquarters. Intelligence on Palestinian plots to unseat Hussein were exchanged.

Hussein reciprocated in September, 1973. During a meeting with Meir, he raised the possibility of an imminent Syrian-Egyptian attack on Israel. The Israeli prime minister ignored the tip. Two weeks later, Israeli defenses were unprepared when the invaders struck.

Talks between the king and Israeli leaders soon continued. During his three years in power, Rabin, Defense Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Yigal Alon met five times with the king and his advisers. But the political stalemate remained. Hussein repeated his position that he would not settle for anything less than the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The meetings came to an end in 1977, when Menachem Begin and his right-wing Likud came to power. Advocating the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which he perceived as part of “Greater Israel,” Begin found no room for any compromise with Jordan.

The clandestine talks resumed in 1984, after Begin’s sudden resignation and the formation of a Labor-Likud government. But during the seven “lean” years under Likud, Jordan had relinquished its responsibility over the West Bank to the PLO. Rabin and Peres continued to meet Hussein during most of the ‘80s, but there was no place for the king in the peace process.

Nonetheless, Hussein--the second longest-serving leader in the world, after Kim Il Sung of North Korea--has risen, again and again, from the political ashes. The Israeli government and, to a lesser degree, the PLO realize that there is a place for Jordan in their future plans. Since Israel and the PLO signed their peace accord in September, Rabin and Peres have met at least twice with Hussein. Both sides still oppose an independent Palestinian state in their midst. For them, the ideal solution would be a confederation between the future Palestine entity and the Hashemite kingdom. Arafat has not ruled out this possibility.

One thing is clear. Once the agreements between Israel and the PLO are consolidated, Hussein will agree to end his more than 30 years of secret diplomacy and surface in a public meeting with Israeli leaders. Such a meeting will undoubtedly produce another peace treaty.