ABSTRACT
The League of Arab States, King 'Abdallah wrote scornfully in the concluding part of his memoirs, was the equivalent of 'a sack into which seven heads were thrust . . . and with remarkable haste'.1 'Abdallah's contempt for, and hostility to, the League never wavered, perhaps justifiably so. Its very creation had served to put a brake on his regional ambitions. The League's Egyptian-dominated activities were more often than not directed against the minority Hashemite camp. At one point, Jordan was even threatened with expulsion from the League, and with economic and political sanctions. For his part, the Jordanian monarch contemplated withdrawing from the League on a number of occasions. He failed to take that step, but worked consistently to preserve Jordan's freedom of action from restrictive League decisions (which, being consensual, usually included Jordan's formal assent as well). Still, Jordan remained a member in good standing of the League.
