Jordan's Policy towards the Peace in the Middle East

Abstract

Throughout past history Jordan has participated in Arab-Israeli conflicts that took place in the Middle East. This country has participated in two wars against Israel, the first in 1967, and the second in 1973. Jordan lost both of these wars, resulting in the loss of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and causing a large number of Palestinian refugees to flee to Jordan.

In the first half of the 90’s dramatic changes occurred in the world; such as the fall of the Soviet Union, Iraq invading Kuwait, and then an alliance with the United States as leader forcing Iraq to leave Kuwait. The affects of these changes led to a so called “peace” between Arab countries and Israel. In this period of peace, Jordan had participated in peace talks between Arab countries and Israel in Madrid, Spain. Then Jordan signed peace treaty with Israel in 1994 watched over by the U.S.A.

Entering these peace treaties in 1994, gave rise to many important questions. Most of which focused on the true reasons behind why Jordan agreed to peace with Israel and the American role in the process.

Thus, the researcher shall attempt to answer these questions, as well as shedding some light on the factors that affect the relations between Israel and Jordan which will be divided into internal and external affairs. The researcher will try to predict how these factors will affect the future of Jordanian-Israeli relations, especially the role of the U.S.A.