HUSSEIN v. COMMANDOS Settling Who Is Master In Jordan

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32221, 13 February 1970, Page 13

HUSSEIN v. COMMANDOS Settling Who Is Master In Jordan

(N.Z P A.-Reuter—Copyright > BEIRUT, February 12. The stage was set in Amman today for a confrontation that will determine who is master of Jordan —King Hussein or the commandos who have built up a state within a state there since the June, 1967, war.

The cause of the trouble is the King’s tough restriction on Tuesday banning the carrying of arms and storing of explosives in populated areas.

The 35-year-old King and three of the Palestinian guerrilla chiefs met last night in the Jordanian capital.

King Hussein’s Prime Minister, Mr Bahjat Al Talhouni, said later that the meeting had been “positive" but gave no details. A statement issued earlier in the day in Beirut by the Fatah commando group said Its men had clashed with Jor daman troops in an Amman suburb. inflicting several casualties. But this wa. de nied by an official source in Amman.

The situation, however, be came potentially explosive with a declaration by the Palestine Armed Struggle Command, umbrella organisation for eight of the com

itnando groups now challeng-, I ing the King, that they would I iuse force to stop the King's, i new internal security mea I sures being implemented. A P.A.S.C. statement said! i that the guerrillas had been put on a state of alert in, Jordan where all the groups had joined forces in a joint I guerrilla command to oppose the measures. The commandos have de-; nounced these as steps de signed to crush their move l ment for the sake of a peace-: ful settlement with Israel and have appealed to other Arab States for support But Mr Talhouni said that King Hussein told the three guerrilla chiefs last night that the measures were not directed against the com mandos. Jordanian troops manning checkpoints on main roads, however, are stopping any commandos carrying arms from entering Amman, where guerrilla guards armed with j anti-tank weapons, grenade! * launchers and automatic wea ! pons have been reinforced found commando head- | quarters. I A guerrilla radio said last night that the third Jordanian } I Armoured Division had been ordered into Amman. Plan To Leave i There was still no word oni whether the King had changed his plans to leave} :today on official visits to! ;Dubai and Pakistan. Both theI Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Mil Abdel Moneim Rifai, are also! i due to leave Amman on visits! abroad within a few hours of I the King. Mr Talhouni was to go on what has been described as a private visit to Cairo and Di Rifai to Beirut to brief Lebanese leaders on last week-end's Cairo summit talks on States confronting Israel. But observers in Beirut said that it seemed inconceiv!

able that all three men would! leave Amman at the same i time in the midst of one of! the most serious challenges toi King Hussein's authority lisince he came to the throne 1 i in 1952. Should it come to an armed! ; showdown, the odds are: stacked against the com mandos. who have about i 15,000 men of variable quallity and split between 10 groups against a well equipped and highly-trained {army twice as strong and with I! overwhelming superiority in ! armour and artillery. But the fact that many of ! the soldiers—like half of Jori dan's population—are Palestinians weakens the useful i ness of the Army as an instrument for controlling the commandos.