is estimated that from 60 percent to 80 percent of
the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin.
The current reigning queen, Rania, is of Palestin-
ian origin from Kuwait.
Much of the history of the modern state of
Jordan since independence has been dominated
by the figure of King Husayn who came to power
when he was only 18 in May 1953 after his father
Talal was forced to abdicate because of mental
illness. The early years of his rule were marked
by a resurgent opposition to foreign influence
in Jordan. In elections held only a few weeks
before Israel, France, and Britain invaded Egypt
in 1956, Arab nationalists and communists won
the majority of seats in parliament and were
able to form a government. Husayn was forced
to dismiss his British military advisers, but then
exchanged British for U.S. patronage in 1957.
The alliance with the United States was enduring
and today Jordan is one of the largest recipients
of U.S. foreign aid in the Middle East after Iraq,
Israel, and Egypt.
The rule of King Husayn was seriously chal-
lenged by the rise of the palestine liberation
organization (PLO) and Palestinian armed resis-
tance organizations that were based in the refugee
camps. After Palestinian militants hijacked three
international airline carriers and flew them to an
airfield near Zarqa in September 1970, the Jorda-
nian army launched an all-out attack on the PLO
armed presence in the camps and, by 1971, the
PLO was forced to move its military and political
headquarters to Beirut, Lebanon. In 1974 the arab
leagUe recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people. King
Husayn still claimed Jordanian sovereignty over
the West Bank until 1988. During these years he
maintained secret contacts with Israeli leaders. A
full peace agreement with Israel was signed on
October 26, 1994. King Husayn died of cancer on
February 7, 1999, and was succeeded by his son
Abdullah (b. 1962), the present monarch.
Jordan is witnessing a rapid demographic
and economic transformation caused by the
U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 with unpredictable
consequences. Some reports put the number
of Iraqis now resident in Jordan as high as 1.5
million or one-fifth of Jordan’s entire popula-
tion. Some of the Iraqi refugees are wealthy
and billions of dollars have been poured into
unproductive speculative investments such as
the stock market and real estate. The rise in land
and housing prices has hit Jordan’s lower classes
the hardest and caused overcrowding and the
delay of marriages due to lack of suitable hous-
ing. The sudden influx of tens of thousands of
poor Iraqi war refugees has overburdened the
educational system and medical and social ser-
vices. Many thousands of Iraqi refugee children
have not been in school for two or more years,
creating a potential generation of illiterates and
unemployed who will be compelled to face the
insecurity of the informal labor sector or fall into
criminal activities. The poorest of the Iraqi refu-
gees are beginning to move into the overcrowded
low-income neighborhoods of East Amman and
even into some of the Palestinian refugee camps
causing social tensions as communities vie for
scant public services and resources.
Jordan is quickly becoming a land of social
contrasts. High-rise construction, the increase
in the number of luxury hotels for tourism, and
infrastructure modernization are occurring at an
astonishing pace in areas such as West Amman,
on the shores of the Dead Sea, and in Aqaba. U.S.-
based fast food conglomerates, cafés, restaurants,
nightclubs, and mega malls dot the landscape of
West Amman with its villas and condos. Cities
such as Zarqa or the neglected neighborhoods of
East Amman that have not been the beneficiaries
of priority public investment, the input of billions
of recycled Iraqi war dollars, or the focus for the
burgeoning tourist industry have suffered from a
deterioration of housing stock, overcrowding, a
lack of services, and serious environmental deg-
radation. Unemployment and underemployment
are rampant. Over 30 percent of the population
lives below the poverty line and the thousandsJordan 407 J