LATEST UPDATE: JANUARY 1998
The
signing of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty in 1994 heralded a marked and
steady improvement in the official attitude towards Jews. Nonetheless, in recent
years, some antisemitic statements have appeared in the mainstream press, over
which the government maintains considerable control, as well as in the
opposition press. Expressions of antisemitism continue to appear in the
Jordanian media, often as part and parcel of anti-Israeli statements.
Without
marked improvement in the economy, frustration with the King's peace policies is
likely to increase and popular support for the Islamist opposition will grow,
despite the fact that the Hizb Jabhat al-Amal al Islami (IAF, Islamic Action
Front) is now outside government.
Demographic data
Total population: 4.3 million
Jewish population: none
Ethnic groups: Arab 98 per cent, Circassian 1 per cent, Armenian 1 per cent
Religions: Sunni Muslim 96 per cent, Christian 4 per cent, Baha'i and Druze
(less than 1 per cent)
Languages: Arabic (official), English
Political data
Political
system: constitutional monarchy
Capital: Amman
Head of state: King Hussein ibn Talal (since 1953) who appoints the prime
minister.
Government: the bicameral parliament consists of a 40-member senate, appointed
by the king, and an 80-member chamber of deputies elected every four years.
Political
parties: reforms introduced from 1989 include the legalization of political
parties. The first multi-party elections since 1956 were held in 1993 when the
largest bloc of seats was won by the Hizb Jabhat al-Amal al-Islami (IAF, Islamic
Action Front) backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. In protest against changes in
the electoral laws, the IAF boycotted general elections held in November 1997.
Economic
data
GDP
1997: US$7 billion (World Bank)
GDP growth 1997: 1.3 per cent (World Bank)
Inflation 1997: 4.5 per cent
Unemployment 1997: 16 per cent
Until recently, a broad range of Arabic translations of antisemitic texts, including The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was widely available in Jordan. Since the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty in 1994, however, such material has been phased out of mainstream bookshops and is available today primarily in Islamist bookshops
More
than half of the Jordanian population is estimated to be of Palestinian origin.
Many of them are refugees who were granted citizenship after fleeing in 1948
from Israel and in 1967 from the West Bank; others holding Jordanian passports
lived in the Gulf states until the 1991 Gulf War. A growing number of hardline
East Bank Jordanians support the ‘return’ of Jordanians of pre-1948
Palestinian origin to the Palestinian territories. Although government policy
does not support this attitude, the king has declared that once Palestinians
achieve statehood, dual Palestinian-Jordanian citizenship will not be permitted.
(Jordanian nationals are barred from obtaining citizenship of any other Arab
country.)
As in other parts of the Middle East, many Christians feel threatened by militant Islamists and are emigrating to western countries. Since the 1991 Gulf War, more than half a million Iraqi refugees have fled to Jordan. Despite pressure on limited welfare services, there is widespread tolerance and sympathy for the plight of the Iraqi refugees.
During
parliamentary debates on privatisation in 1997, a number of Islamist and other
politicians expressed their opposition by suggesting that Jordanian national
assets might come under 'Jewish control'.
Education
In some instances, current Jordanian
textbooks go beyond the political context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
a1993 edition of al-Kadiat al-Filistiniya (The Palestinian Cause) says of
the Jews: ‘Their usury and love of money were the reasons people hated them.
And this caused them to hate the societies they lived in.’ The ministry of
education, however, has been slow to adopt changes and reprint volumes
Islamist
groupings
Members of the IAF, led by Ishaq al-Farhan, which represented the Muslim
Brotherhood in parliament until the November 1997 elections, reject the Middle
East peace process and often combine antisemitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric.
Policy statements by the IAF are publicized primarily through the Islamist
press. An IAF deputy, Abd al-Mun'em Abu Zant, has been one of the most
vociferous critics of Israel and also of Jews in recent years (see Publications
and media).
There
is support in Jordan for the view that the mass destruction of European Jewry
during the Second World War either did not take place or, as is in fact widely
held in the Arab world, has been exaggerated for political purposes. A few
bookshops sell works in Arabic translation that claim that the Holocaust is a
hoax. Among these is the latest book by French Holocaust-denier, Roger Garaudy
(see France), 'Founding Myths of Israeli Politics', published by the daily
newspaper, al-Dustour. (Garaudy
visited
Jordan in August 1996 as a guest of al-Dustour and the General Union of
Arab Writers.) Books documenting the Holocaust continue to be banned in Jordan
and the topic is not taught in schools.
The
Islamist press in Jordan was most outspoken in its criticism of Judaism
as a religion, and of Jews as a nation. Abd al-Mun’em Abu Zant, an IAF deputy
and an vociferous critic of Israel, was quoted in the 22 February 1997 edition
of the independent weekly al-Shihan as saying that Jews use cunning,
money and women to establish themselves.A series of antisemitic articles by Abu
Zant has appeared in the Islamist daily newspaper, al-Sabil. For example,
on 23 September 1997 Abu Zant wrote: 'The
Jewish mind, which is deficient and ignorant, as seen in the way Jews ridicule
Muslims religious practices, is a God-given guarantee of the end of the
existence of the so-called State of Israel.' On 7 October, Abu Zant declared in al-Sabil:
'The hatred and narrow-mindedness of the Jews is signified in their tyranny and
heresy because of their denial of faith. God's revenge towards them is therefore
eternal.'
IAF
member of parliament, Bassam al-Amoush, published an article in the
establishment daily, al-Rai, on 6 January 1997 which combined antisemitic
ideas with condemnation of the murder of Muslim worshippers by an Israeli
settler in Hebron: 'The sinful attack by the Zionist soldier is not an isolated
incident but rather reflects the Talmudic Torah teachings which the sons of the
Jews receive from early childhood, whatever environment or society they are born
into. They all live in a material and moral 'ghetto' and I do not discount the
possibility that a criminal from within the Falashas or Siberian or Finnish-born
Jews will commit the same act that the criminal who was educated in the US
committed in the Cave of the Patriarchs. That is because a Jew remains a Jew
wherever he is. He learns nothing except for himself.'
In
July 1997, al-Sabil published an article that stated:
'The verses in the Qu'ran describing Jews as monkeys and pigs, as sinners
on whom the curse and rage of Allah has befallen, are valid also for the Jews of
the modern age.’ On 21 October of the same year, an article entitled 'The
continuing treacheries of the Jews' appeared in al-Sabil: 'Treachery and
violation of commitments are rooted in the complex, twisted Jewish mentality.
The Qu'ran introduced the Jews to us and gave examples of their digressions and
hard-heartedness. God also instructed the Prophet to make war against these
treacherous Jews and kill them. The Jews continually betray God, their prophets,
agreements and treaties . . . and even betray themselves and their brothers,
their allies, their forefathers and descendants. They treat agreements on the
basis of interest and opportunism.'
Disparaging
references to Jews and Judaism also appeared in government-backed publications.
On 29 January, the government daily, al-Ra'i claimed that Israeli Prime
Minister Netanyahu was raised on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The
author praised the Pharaoh of Egypt for his efforts to eliminate 'the evil,
godless, malicious and crafty Jewish race' and referred to Hitler as a great
leader.
On
5 May 1997, the establishment daily al-Dustour stated: 'The Jews have no
history, so they dig into the secret recesses of history to justify their
existence, hoping that the public will be fooled into believing that they are a
nation with a heritage and roots. The Egyptian nation knows the Jewish people
and their methods of fraud and blackmail better than anyone else.'
On
22 September 1997, al-Dustour declared: 'The Jew has a strange character.
He purports to have the most honorable trait, when, in effect, he performs the
dirtiest actions, the lowliest tasks. Today he claims to work for progress and
liberty, when actually he commits acts of unprecedented robbery, aggression and
barbarity.’
King
Hussein repeatedly refers in public to the links between the ‘children of
Abraham’ and the three great faiths of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Although
the Israel-Jordan peace treaty commits both states to limit ‘hostile
propaganda’, debate continues in Jordan over the extent of reform. The
ministry of education has announced its intention to reform the social studies
curriculum in order to minimize the ‘emotionally charged’ content of books,
much of which is antisemitic. The Amman Baccalaureate, Jordan's leading private
school, now teaches Judaism as part of the religion curriculum (the only school
to do so).
Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
© JPR 1998
