Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Whether the King dealt from strength or frustration, his move was the logical culmination of a series of disappointments. Through the eight months of the Palestinian intifadeh, or uprising, Hussein has found Jordan's role and influence steadily diminished in the West Bank. While the King has a keen interest in easing the living conditions for West Bank Palestinians, fellow leaders in the Arab world have persistently refused to recognize his efforts. Jordan's financial and political efforts on behalf of the West Bank have provoked Arab criticism that the King is trying to usurp the P.L.O.'s role. Hussein...
...costs of the intifadeh so far, plus $43 million a month to keep the uprising alive. (Not a dinar of that pledge has so far reached the P.L.O.) At the same time, the Arab leaders reiterated their 1974 position that the P.L.O. was the "sole legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people...
...comment in Hussein's speech last week was aimed directly at Israeli hawks. "Jordan is not Palestine," the King noted. Many Israeli rightists, hardened by the turmoil of the intifadeh, have come to support the view promoted by former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon that Jordan should be the Palestinian homeland and that the West Bank should be annexed by Israel. If large numbers of Palestinians from the West Bank were forced into Jordan, where the population is already almost two-thirds Palestinian, Sharon's vision might become Hussein's reality...
...West Bank, some Palestinians regard Hussein's withdrawal as a positive step toward some form of Palestinian statehood, and believe the moment is right for the P.L.O. to create a government-in-exile in the occupied territories. Others are less sanguine. On Saturday, Israeli television reported that authorities had seized an embryonic "declaration of independence" drawn up by Palestinian leaders. Many Palestinians fear that Hussein has opened the door to annexation by Israel...
...expanded Israel would dangerously tilt the balance of the population in favor of the Arabs. No action is expected before the November election of a Prime Minister, which pits hard-liner Shamir against the more moderate Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Peres, who accepts the concept of a Jordanian- Palestinian delegation at an international peace conference, insisted last week that Hussein's move was "more of a warning than a practical step." One practical consequence, however, may be that Peres could suffer at the polls...