King’s Charisma Touched Many in Southland

Whether his death Sunday was greeted with the sagging grief one feels at the loss of a friend or the cool detachment reserved for a political foe, there was little denying King Hussein’s soft-spoken charisma.

“He was a king of the heart instead of just a king of his land,” said Yousef Elia-Haddad, a Jordanian American who wept with hundreds of others inside his North Hollywood mosque hours after learning that Jordan’s king had succumbed to cancer.

“He taught us all humility,” Elia-Haddad said.

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Weisenthal Center said: “There was something about him that led friend and foe alike to respect him.”

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, where about 50,000 Jordanian Americans and thousands more Arabs and Jews were affected by his 47-year reign, the news of the 63-year-old monarch’s passing stirred somber reflection.

Some in the area see Hussein’s legacy as one of a visionary in pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Others view him harshly, as either a onetime enemy of Israel or a recent traitor to Arab sensibilities when, during his later years, he made friends with the West.

And still others regard Hussein as simply a politically savvy monarch, who pragmatically labored to secure his position of power in an unstable region that crowded his Bedouin kingdom with hostility.

Mourning inside his home in Anaheim, Kamal Naffa, a 70-year-old Jordanian American who said he knew Hussein as a child, called the king “a force of stability in the Middle East. He kept Jordan in peace and tranquillity while surrounded by hostility. Jordan has not had the harsh policies of Iraq and other countries.”

At The Minaret magazine, which caters to Arab American readers in Los Angeles, Editor Aslam Abdullah said: “He was the best ever [Middle Eastern] ally to Great Britain and the U.S. His departure will definitely create a void in that area. Even more than his own people, perhaps, the West will miss him.”

Hier called himself a personal friend of Hussein and plans to memorialize him during a ceremony at the Museum of Tolerance today. He said Hussein’s popularity in Israel rivaled that of many Jewish political leaders.

“What other monarch in the world would visit the [grieving] families when a Jordanian soldier killed seven Israeli girls?” Hier asked, referring to a 1997 incident that heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in East Jerusalem.

Appalled by the crime, Hussein approached the victims’ families, sank to his knees and begged forgiveness.

“People in Israel could only say: ‘This king is a genuine person in search of peace,’ ” Hier said.

Others did not consider Hussein’s overtures to Israel noble.

Don Bustany, former president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s Los Angeles branch, criticized the king’s 1994 peace accord with Israel, saying it condemned Hussein’s legacy in the eyes of many Arabs, mostly Palestinians.

“The treaty he made with Israel did not require Israel to end its oppression of Palestinians and its occupation of Palestine,” Bustany said. “I think objective observers will recognize that as less of a noble thing. He was supposed to be serving the people of Jordan, two-thirds of whom are Palestinians.”

That aside, Bustany could not help but compliment Hussein, calling him “a fascinating man, an interesting man, a couth man, very cultured, very genteel.”

John Fishel, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, called Hussein “a man of great vision.”

“He not only had the interest at heart of the Jordanian people, but all of the peace-loving people of the Middle East,” Fishel said. “It is our very earnest hope that the peace established during the reign of the late King Hussein will be maintained and continue to flourish.”

Said Naffa: “He was a wise king, a benevolent king. He leaves a great vacuum in the country.”

Whether Hussein’s 37-year-old son and heir, Abdullah, could fill that void is questionable, several people said Sunday.

Hussein “thrived on a 40-year legacy” that his eldest son may not be able to take advantage of, Aslam Abdullah said. “There are a lot of problems in the country [the new king] will have to confront. We’ll have to see how the internal palace politics play out and whether or not the new king can create a consensus.”

Said Hier: “Hussein was a small man, but those are giant shoes to fill.”

Dr. Maher Hathout, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California, doubted, however, that the loss of the king would mean much in the long term.

“We don’t expect any major difference either in the Middle East or in this area,” he said. Hussein’s son “is on the same line as his father” in terms of policies.

“What we hope for in the future is more democracy for the whole area,” Hathout said, “so the destiny of nations does not depend on persons but on systems in place. In that area, we are hoping for the best.”