NATION’S TROUBLES

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 15

NATION’S TROUBLES

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BEIRUT, Nov. 29.

The assassination yesterday in Cairo of the Jordanian Prime Minister, Mr Wasfi Tell, is the latest bloody event in the turbulent history of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Given full independence in 1946 by a treaty with Britain, Jordan had its first monarch, King Abdullah, assassinated. His grandson, 35-year-old King Hussein, has had several narrow escapes—and Mr Tell’s death today was the second killing of a Prime Minister.

Relations between King Hussein and the Palestinian guerrillas have been consistently uneasy and punctuated by bloody clashes since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Mr Tell was named Prime Minister for the fifth time in his career after the bloodiest of these clashes on September 9, 1970, in which thousands were killed or wounded. But sporadic fighting has continued. The clashes underline the basic difference of approach between King Hussein and guerrillas on how to deal with Israel. The difference stems largely from the fact that Palestinians make up more than half of Jordan’s 2,300,000 people. The rest is the original population of what was formerly TransJordan. In the 1967 war Jordan suffered more than any other Arab State, losing all its territory on the West -Bank of the Jordan—including its sector of .Jerusalem.

More than half the population resided in this lost territory. King Hussein and his Government have generally gone along with the idea of a political settlement to the Middle East problem, including recognition of Israel. But the Palestinian commandos, who mainly originate from the Jordan River West Bank and from descendants of Arab refugees who lost their homes when Israel was created in 1948, reject anything less than the dissolution of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian State.

At stake is control of Jordan and the possibility of using the country as a springboard for a guerrilla war against Israel, with the risk of Israeli retaliation.

The Jordanian Army-Pale-stinian commando clash in September, 1970—which led to Mr Tell’s appointment as Prime Minister again—resulted in a summit meeting of Arab heads of state who helped bring about a ceasefire agreement. But the troubles blew up again last summer and there have been verbal exchanges since. An attempt to patch up a co-existence formula in September in Saudi Arabia apparently failed. Jordan has been in constant difficulty with its Arab neighbours because of its stand against the guerrillas. Iraq and Syria closed their borders with Jordan when the action against commandos occurred last July and tension with Syria developed into a military clash in August.

As a result, Jordan is now receiving less than half cf the subsidies Arab states decided to give it during a summit meeting in 1967. But alternative financing has been found, mainly in the United States and Britain. King Hussein and Mr Tell therefore could continue to say they would refuse to bow to pressure.

Ironically, Mr Tell was in Cairo to attend a meeting of the Arab League Joint Defence Council, which was aiming to co-ordinate panArab stratejgy should war with Israel resume. How the assassination of Mr Tell will affect this strategy. or Jordan’s stand on the guerrillas. is anybody’s guess.