ABSTRACT

Jordan's political dilemma was dramatically highlighted by its disastrous participation in the Six-Day War of June 1967. By May 28, King Hussein had decided that war with Israel was imminent and that Jordan must take part in it. King Hussein's overriding concern in the wake of the war was thus to regain the West Bank. Hussein's mission was doomed to failure, however, because the Arab rulers withheld the one authorization that could have convinced Western leaders that the Arabs had indeed moderated their basic hostility. When restrictions on fedayeen activity against Israel were imposed, it was in response to specific dangers to Jordan and its regime. Beginning in April 1969, however, the attitude of the regime itself stiffened toward fedayeen operations from Jordan. In December 1969, attacks by the Israeli air force on Jordanian military positions that had been aiding the fedayeen inflicted heavy losses in men and materiel.