ABSTRACT
He flew his own royal plane from Amman to Cairo, accepted all the conditions stipulated by Nasser, and the two leaders signed a bilateral defence pact identical in content to the Egyptian-Syrian pact. The agreement placed the Jordanian army under Egyptian command and Hussein was forced to agree to the entry of Egyptian and Iraqi forces into Jordan and to reconciliation with his bitterest enemy in the inter-Arab arena, PLO Chairman Ahmed Shukeiri.1 This exceptional development further validated the standpoint of the military and civilian opponents of the government’s approach. It heightened the level of anxiety of the Israeli public and the feeling that the noose was tightening. Within two days, as mentioned above, Eshkol was obliged to hand over the Defence portfolio to Moshe Dayan.
