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Hussein Relying On Bedouin Loyalty

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, April 26. King Hussein now appears to be banking everything—his throne and the continued independence of his kingdom—on the traditional loyalty of the Bedouin tribes. It was the Bedouins who helped his grandfather, Emir Abdullah, cjuve out the desert kingdom after World War I. The Bedouins—and the landowning families of Trans-Jordan (that part of the country lying on the east bank of the Jordan river)—form the only solid and trustworthy support that the young monarch can rely on in the present crisis, a Reuter correspondent recently in Jordan said.

But this support in numbers is ‘only a minority fragment of pre-sent-day Jordan’s 1,500,000 population. Arab refugees from Palestine make up a third, and almost another third live in, or have their roots, on the Palestinian west bank of the* river. “1000 Years Difference”

During last October’s fateful elections, which resulted in a landslide for anti-Western, proEgypt, and Left-wing elements, an American diplomat with many years’ experience of Jordan analysed the situation —still true today—in these words: “The Jordan river is only a few yards wide, but the difference between the people of the west and east banks is measured by a thousand years.” Embittered by the division of Palestine and the creation of Israel, Jordan’s Palestinians, particularly, the impoverished, hopeless refugees, are overwhelmingly opposed to the West. They are willing to clutch at the straw of communism, and, if needs be, ready to revolt and overthrow the monarchy if that institution is unwilling to match their mood. The King today seems almost

Actress Burned.— Miss Belinda Lee, a British film star, was burned today when a candle set fire to her hair in a scene at Pinewood studios. The candle was on a table beside a fourposter bed on which she was sitting. Her director, Mr Brian Hurst, smothered her in a bedspread, but her shoulders and hands and much of her hair were burned.—London, April 25.

certainly faced with a situation where the majority of his subjects—more especially the socalled “politically conscious” elements—have been stirred up to think of Egypt and its leader. Colonel Nasser, as the saviour of the entire Arab race.

These people have also come to believe in the last six months that Russia offers more hope of their eventual salvation as an Arab State and the regaining of their lost lands in Israel than the West, now ranked almost on a par with the Jews as their prime enemy.

To the young monarch, isolated in his gleaming white palace, on a hill overlooking Amman, the Bedouin leaders have come to give their support in the only thing that immediately matters — men.

Numerically they are few. There are only about 50,000 Bedouins in Jordan, although they supply a considerable proportion of the Jordan Army. Reliable estimates are that about half of the army is Bedouin, but half of these (between 4000 and 5000) are mercenaries recruited from the Bedouin tribes of neighbouring states—Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The King then can rely only on the absolute, unswerving support of about 5000 Jordan Bedouins in the Army—about a quarter of its total of 20,000 men. Tribal Loyalty

Among the many stories that went around Amman at the time of the dismissal of LieutenantGeneral Sir John Glubb, British commander of the Arab Legion, was that of the reported split between the palace and the Bedouin tribes.

Shocked by the abrupt dismissal of General Glubb, who was loved and respected by the Bedouin, the tribes were said to be on the verge of revolt and only restrained by their chiefs’ pointing out that their first and only loyalty was to the throne. It appears that it is on that rigid degree of loyalty that the King is now basing his actions and hopes of retaining his authority. A rallying call by the King would be likely to produce an immediate response from these tribesmen, but their usefulness could easily be over-estimated. The sense of discipline to their chief and tribe is maintained when they enter the Army. They generally dislike and rather despise their other Arab comrades and, in the days of General Glubb, were normally maintained together as a fighting force. With an uncanny sense of country and with eyes and ears attuned to the sounds and sights that town-dwellers seldom pick up, they formed the fighting spearhead of General Glubb’s legion. British officers who have served in the Arab Legion say the trained Bedouin soldier is one of the finest fighting men in the world in the area in which he was born and lives.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19570427.2.123

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 11

Word count
Tapeke kupu
767

Hussein Relying On Bedouin Loyalty Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 11

Hussein Relying On Bedouin Loyalty Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 11

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