King Hussein Personified Quest for Peace

Personally risky, deeply controversial and warmly human, it was a gesture that those who witnessed it will never forget.

King Hussein of Jordan, direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, had insisted on traveling to Israel to extend his personal condolences to the families of seven Israeli schoolgirls shot and killed during a border field trip by a deranged Jordanian soldier two years ago.

Three days after the attack, the monarch paid a solemn call at each victim’s home in the gritty factory town of Beit Shemesh. Discovering upon his entrance that many of the family members were seated on the floor in the Jewish mourning tradition, Hussein sank to his knees.

He took each of the mothers’ hands in his and, leaning close, whispered words of comfort, sorrow and--as Jordan’s ruler--personal responsibility for the violent actions of the soldier.

The families were stunned, overwhelmed and profoundly moved, as were thousands of Israelis watching on live television.

The king’s dramatic visit to Beit Shemesh in March 1997 was not universally admired. Israelis and Americans loved it, but many Arabs hated it, seeing it as unnecessary or even pandering to Israel, the enemy state still occupying Arab land.

Yet it was vintage Hussein, providing the world with an exceptional lesson of what one man can do to overcome the tragedies that litter the path to peace.

Now, as the king’s nearly half-century reign here reaches its end, many of those considering his legacy agree that the passing of Hussein, who has used his unique gifts to become the elder statesman and human face of the peace process, will create a tremendous void.

“There is no other player who can fill Hussein’s role,” said former Rep. Wayne Owens, president of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. “There is widespread gloom because the peace process is on life support. . . . Rocky times are coming.”

However, there is also widespread expectation--here, in Israel and elsewhere--that Hussein’s son and heir, the 37-year-old Crown Prince Abdullah, will hold to his initial promises to make no immediate changes in his father’s policies of moderation, strong ties to the West and efforts to forge a lasting Middle East peace.

“I’m an extension of his majesty’s policies,” Abdullah said Thursday in an interview with a small group of reporters at Raghadan Palace in Amman, hours before his father’s sudden deterioration. “You’re not going to see anything different.”

Some Arab analysts in the region, however, are expressing concern about the longer-term prospects if Abdullah falls too much under the sway of Israel and the United States, leading to a change in the area’s delicate balance of power.

For its part, Israel hopes for a continuation of the status quo. While Israelis have long expressed frustration with their “cold peace” with Egypt, the first Arab nation to sign a treaty with the Jewish state, the relationship with Jordan is “the closest thing we have to a warm peace,” noted Joseph Alpher, an Israeli political analyst who heads the Jerusalem office of the American Jewish Committee.

Although there have been significant bumps in the road--notably when Israel sent Mossad agents to try to kill a Palestinian militant here in September 1997--the two states share a stable, multifaceted relationship that includes military, political and economic ties.

Israelis call it a “real peace,” although they recognize that it is considerably less popular on this side of the border.

Hussein formed an especially close friendship with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with whom he signed a 1994 peace treaty. The king’s commitment to the agreement has never wavered, even after Rabin was assassinated in 1995 and a right-wing Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office several months later.

As progress in the peace process slowed, Hussein had at times scolded both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat for their failure to work harder for peace. That’s a role that his long experience, his age and his eloquence allowed him to play--but one that would be impossible for his young successor.

In Washington, Clinton administration officials reacted cautiously to the prospect of Middle East peace without Hussein. It will be a more difficult task without him, officials agreed. Yet they also expressed hope that Abdullah will grow quickly into the role.

For President Clinton, the loss would be both personal and political. Clinton and Hussein developed a close personal rapport, solidified by frequent private visits. All indications are that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Hussein’s current wife, the American-born Queen Noor, also became friends.

On a political level, the relationship aided both leaders.

Clinton presided over substantial increases in U.S. economic aid to Jordan. From his side, Hussein played a wild-card role in U.S. efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, making a dramatic appearance in October at peace talks at Maryland’s Wye Plantation that helped push Netanyahu and Arafat to agreement.

Hussein was able to play an important role in the peace process because of the force of his personality and his stature as the senior leader in the Middle East, not because of Jordan’s strategic significance, which isn’t all that great. Abdullah clearly cannot fill those shoes, at least not for many years.

Nevertheless, U.S. officials said they expect--or at least hope for--a relatively smooth transition.

Changes in Jordan will be far less extensive than would have been expected if there had been a coup against the Hashemite monarchy.

However, Hussein’s absence will be felt.

Abdullah, a major general in the Jordanian army and frequent visitor to the Pentagon, is well-known and well-liked in U.S. military circles. He is less familiar to the rest of the U.S. government.

Although one senior administration official characterized him recently as “a chip off the old block,” no one is sure just what to expect.

Jordan’s Arab neighbors, meanwhile, expect no swift changes to occur in the kingdom under the new monarch.

The consensus view in the Arab world has been that the transition will go smoothly--both because Jordan’s royal family will be under pressure to pull together at this time of crisis and because Jordan’s citizens are satisfied with the rights and stability they have had under the Hashemites.

To offset what they see as the looming influence of Washington and Israel on the prospective new king, however, most Arab countries have already sent emissaries both to size up and to try to reach out to Abdullah.

Libya, for instance, sent Moammar Kadafi’s eldest son, Seif Islam, to see his “brother” Abdullah. And in one notable gesture of goodwill, Kuwait--estranged from Jordan since it sided with Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War--said it will resume full diplomatic ties. It appears that Saudi Arabia will soon do likewise.

Mohammed Sayed Said, a political analyst at Cairo’s Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said most Arab states accept--and some even appreciate--Jordan’s role as a buffer between Israel and the Arabs.

But he noted that they had become estranged from King Hussein, who has never been as popular in other Arab capitals as he has in Washington and Tel Aviv.

Many Arabs, Said said, believed that the king tilted too much toward Israel and the United States. Therefore, a new king could be a chance for countries such as Saudi Arabia to invite Jordan to “correct the mistakes of the father” and work more in line with Arab interests.

Among Arabs, “the passing of King Hussein could be regarded as a new beginning for everybody,” Said concluded.

Trounson reported from Amman and Daniszewski from Tehran. Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington also contributed to this report.