Jordan

Overview

Jordan is a country in the Levant, east of the Jordan River. Its capital and largest city is Amman. The Hashemite dynasty established the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921, and the kingdom gained independence from Britain in 1946. Its location between Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia has made border security and regional diplomacy central concerns of successive governments. Jordan fought Israel in 1948 and 1967, but signed a peace treaty with it in 1994. The treaty remains a foundation for practical cooperation despite persistent public hostility toward Israel within Jordan.

Jordan's monarchy has survived wars, coups and regional upheaval. Its stability depends in part on the armed forces, security services, foreign assistance, and the state's ability to manage a population enlarged by successive refugee movements. The kingdom has limited natural resources and faces severe water scarcity. It has sought economic and security partnerships with Israel, the United States, and Arab states while responding to pressure from armed groups and instability along its borders.

Geography

Jordan extends from the highlands and desert east of the Jordan Rift Valley to a short coast on the Red Sea at Aqaba. The Jordan River runs south from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, forming part of the border with Israel. The boundary continues across the Dead Sea and south toward Aqaba; the Israel–Jordan border measures approximately 310 kilometers, or 190 miles. The Yarmouk River is an important tributary and shared water resource.

Most of Jordan is arid or semi-arid. Population and farming are concentrated in the western highlands, the Jordan Valley, and urban centers, especially Amman. Aqaba provides the kingdom's seaport and access to Red Sea trade. Petra, the ancient Nabataean city in southern Jordan, is among its best-known historical sites. The Dead Sea's water level has fallen as evaporation and diversion of incoming water by both Israel and Jordan have reduced its volume. The retreat has created sinkholes and damaged infrastructure along its shores.

Water scarcity shapes Jordanian domestic policy and relations with its neighbors. Proposals to store Yarmouk floodwaters in the Sea of Galilee for Jordan's account reflected the difficulty of capturing every seasonal flow with a dam. Later plans linked desalination at Aqaba to water exchanges with Israel. A proposed first phase of a Red Sea–Dead Sea project called for an Aqaba plant producing 80–100 million cubic meters of desalinated water, with Israel receiving nearly half for the Eilat area and supplying a similar quantity to northern Jordan. Funding and feasibility concerns prevented the wider conveyance proposal from being realized.

History

Jordan's territory formed part of successive ancient kingdoms and empires. Petra became the center of the Nabataean kingdom before the area came under Roman rule. In later centuries, Islamic dynasties and then the Ottoman Empire governed the region. Ottoman rule ended during the First World War. Britain encouraged an Arab revolt against the Ottomans through correspondence between High Commissioner Henry McMahon and Sharif Hussein of Mecca. British officer T. E. Lawrence joined Arab forces and supported the Hashemite family led by Hussein.

After the war, Britain administered territory east and west of the Jordan River. In 1921, Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill arranged for Sharif Hussein's son Abdullah to govern Transjordan, forming the Emirate of Transjordan under British authority. The emirate became independent in 1946, with Abdullah as king. The Hashemite state thereafter developed its own institutions and armed forces while retaining close ties with Britain.

Jordan entered the 1948 Arab–Israeli War after Israel declared independence. Its Arab Legion captured the Old City of Jerusalem and took control of Judea and Samaria. Jordanian forces expelled the Old City's Jewish residents, and Jews were barred from the Western Wall during Jordanian rule. The 1949 armistice line, later called the Green Line, marked a cease-fire rather than an agreed permanent border. No separate Arab state was established in the areas Jordan held. The war also sent large numbers of Arab refugees into Jordan; many eventually became Jordanian citizens, while inherited refugee registration continued across later generations.

King Abdullah I was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951. His grandson Hussein became king in 1952 and ruled for nearly 47 years. His reign included repeated pressures from Arab nationalism, regional wars, and armed organizations operating inside Jordan. Before the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel informed Hussein that it would refrain from entering Judea and Samaria if Jordan stayed out of the fighting. Hussein joined the war, and Jordanian forces attacked Jewish Jerusalem and shelled Israeli positions. Israel defeated Jordan's forces and reunited Jerusalem, ending Jordanian rule in Judea and Samaria. Jordan also fought Israel during the subsequent War of Attrition.

Armed groups associated with the PLO and Fatah built an independent power structure in Jordan after 1967. Cross-border raids and challenges to royal authority brought them into conflict with Hussein. In March 1968, Israeli forces struck an armed force at Karama, a Jordanian village near the river, after attacks originating across the border. The crisis deepened in September 1970, when hijacked passenger aircraft were brought to Jordan and several were destroyed after their passengers were evacuated. Hussein launched a military offensive against PLO and Fatah forces. The fighting became known as Black September; surviving fighters moved to Lebanon. Fatah later used the same name for an apparatus that carried out attacks abroad, including the Munich massacre. The 1970 fighting and that later organization were distinct.

During the uprising that began in 1987, Hussein relinquished Jordan's claims to Judea and Samaria and ended important Jordanian social services there. The United States and Soviet Union convened the 1991 Madrid Conference, opening public negotiations involving Israel and Arab parties. Jordan and Israel had already maintained quiet contacts for decades. In July 1994, Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin declared an end to the state of war in Washington. They proceeded to a peace treaty that October.

Jewish history

Jordan's territory and nearby Jerusalem figure in Jewish history and religious tradition. A longstanding tradition identifies Jebel Hārūn, near Petra, with Mount Hor, where the Bible places the burial of Aaron. The site, known as Aaron's Tomb, has drawn Jewish visitors. Jordan closed it to Israeli visitors after Jewish prayer there in 2019; a later arrangement restored tourist access subject to advance coordination, guides, and security requirements.

Jordan's rule over Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967 profoundly affected the city's Jewish community. Jewish residents were expelled from the Old City, and Jews could not visit the Western Wall. Israel's victory in 1967 restored Jewish access while Muslim worship continued on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. Jordan treats protection of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, including Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, as a responsibility of the kingdom. The Muslim Waqf manages religious affairs at the site, while Israel retains responsibility for access and security. This division remains sensitive in Jordanian politics and in relations with Israel.

Government and politics

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy in which the king retains a central role in government, security, and foreign policy. King Abdullah II succeeded his father Hussein in 1999. Governments and an elected lower house operate within a political system shaped by the monarchy and its security institutions. Tribal leaders have long been influential supporters of the state, while urban political currents and organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood have also played roles in public life. Protests during the Arab Spring tested the government, although the kingdom avoided the collapse experienced by some neighboring states.

Questions of national identity and migration remain politically charged. Jordan absorbed Arabs displaced by the 1948 war and later conflict, as well as Iraqis and Syrians fleeing regional wars. In February 2025, Jordanians, including tribal leaders and groups supporting the monarchy, protested in Amman against a proposal to relocate residents of Gaza to Jordan. Abdullah II rejected the proposal. The response reflected concern about Jordan's sovereignty, domestic stability, and the consequences of another large population movement.

The monarchy's religious role extends beyond Jerusalem. Abdullah II meets leaders of Jordan's Christian communities, although some Protestant denominations have lacked official recognition. Members of unregistered religious groups have faced difficulties registering marriages and their children's religious affiliation. Jordanians who convert from Islam to Christianity have sometimes faced ostracism or abuse from families and communities. Jordan registers minor children of male citizens who convert to Islam as Muslims and bars their return to their father's previous religion.

Military and security

Jordan's armed forces and intelligence services protect a state bordered by several conflict zones. The 1970 campaign against the PLO established the monarchy's determination to prevent armed organizations from exercising independent authority on Jordanian territory. Jordan later confronted threats from al-Qaeda networks; it indicted Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in absentia over a millennium bombing plot targeting an Amman hotel and American, Israeli, and Christian sites. The kingdom has also cooperated with partners against the Islamic State, including through the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and Abdullah II's Aqaba Process.

The Syrian civil war placed heavy pressure on Jordan through refugee arrivals, border insecurity, and smuggling. Drug traffickers used Jordan as a route toward Gulf states, while weapons moved toward Judea and Samaria under the protection of Bashar al-Assad's regime and its Iranian and Hezbollah patrons. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Jordan strengthened its northern border defenses as violence in southern Syria raised concern about mobilization among related tribal communities on both sides. The fall of Assad's regime created an opportunity to disrupt trafficking routes and pursue refugee returns, but also raised fears of renewed instability and political upheaval.

Jordan faces threats from Iranian-backed armed networks beyond Syria. Militia attacks targeting United States personnel in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan have demonstrated the reach of those networks. During Iran's April 2024 missile and drone attack on Israel, Jordan closed its airspace and intercepted Iranian drones. That action served Jordan's own airspace security and illustrated the strategic interests it shares with Israel, even amid sharp diplomatic disagreement. Smuggling of weapons and explosives through Jordan toward Israel remains a concern for both countries.

Relations with Israel

The Israel–Jordan peace treaty, signed on October 26, 1994, ended the formal state of war and established full diplomatic relations. It replaced the 1949 cease-fire lines with an international boundary delimited by reference to the British Mandate boundary. Both states undertook to respect each other's sovereignty, prevent threats of violence from originating on their territory, and cooperate against terrorism. The agreement also provided for travel, economic ties, and joint development. It followed years of unofficial meetings between Israeli and Jordanian officials, including contacts with Hussein.

Water provisions were central to the treaty. Its annex allotted Israel 12 million cubic meters of Yarmouk water during each summer period, with Jordan receiving the remaining flow. In winter, Jordan permitted Israel to pump an additional 20 million cubic meters from the Yarmouk in exchange for a summer transfer from the Jordan River. Subsequent arrangements expanded practical water cooperation, and Israel has supplied Jordan with substantial quantities of water each year. A 2015 memorandum addressed further exchanges and proposed works linked to Red Sea desalination. The broader Red Sea–Dead Sea conveyance remained a proposal: its first phase lacked full funding, with an American commitment of $100 million covering only part of an estimated $500 million cost.

Peace also supported trade and employment. Qualifying Industrial Zones enabled Jordanian goods made in cooperation with Israel to enter the United States without quotas or tariffs; exports through the arrangement reached roughly $200 million. By the treaty's twenty-fifth anniversary, about 2,000 Jordanian workers crossed daily from Aqaba to jobs in Eilat. Cooperation has extended to border security, intelligence, tourism, and essential services. Nevertheless, public relations have often been cold. Domestic opposition and hostile official rhetoric have strained diplomatic ties without ending cooperation that serves both countries' security interests.

Several crises exposed those tensions. A failed Israeli operation against Hamas figure Khaled Mashal in Amman in 1997 prompted a diplomatic crisis; Israel supplied an antidote, Jordan released captured Israeli operatives, and Israel freed Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin as part of the resolution. In 2017, a Jordanian stabbed an Israeli security guard at Israel's embassy compound in Amman. The guard shot the attacker in self-defense, and a Jordanian landlord also died from gunshot wounds. A standoff over questioning the guard ended after American intervention. Such episodes strained the relationship, while the treaty's security framework endured.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. Jordan detained more than 20 suspected Hamas operatives in 2006 amid concern about its activity in Amman. Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza intensified pressure on the monarchy. Support for Hamas among some Jordanians raised concern that the organization could gain political influence or embolden supporters inside the kingdom. Protests outside Israel's embassy and demands to cancel the treaty widened the gap between public rhetoric and continuing security cooperation. Jordan and Israel nevertheless retain shared interests in preventing Iranian-backed smuggling, cross-border attacks, and wider regional instability.

Economy

Jordan's economy depends on services, trade, tourism, foreign investment, and assistance from international partners. Its limited natural resources, high demand for water, and costs associated with refugee arrivals constrain public finances. Aqaba is the kingdom's principal seaport, while Petra and other heritage sites support tourism. Cross-border commerce with Israel and access to American markets have offered opportunities, although political tensions have limited the growth of public economic ties.

The United States has been a major source of bilateral assistance. An aid memorandum signed in Amman in 2018 reflected the depth of that partnership; a subsequent proposed memorandum committed at least $1.45 billion annually for fiscal years 2023 through 2029. Gulf monarchies have also supplied support and invested in Jordanian assets. Such investment can fund infrastructure and employment, while giving investors influence over strategic sectors. Regional proposals involving Israel, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States have sought to pair solar energy production with desalinated water supplies. Water and energy security remain closely linked to Jordan's economic prospects.

Society and religion

Jordan's population is predominantly Arab and Sunni Muslim. It also includes Christian communities, Bedouin groups, and Circassians. Amman is the main political, commercial, and cultural center. Successive arrivals from neighboring wars have contributed to its growth and to the demands placed on housing, schools, health care, and water supplies. Syrian refugees in particular became a major concern during the civil war across Jordan's northern border.

The Hashemite monarchy presents its stewardship of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem as part of its religious responsibility. That role carries considerable domestic importance, as does the kingdom's peace with Israel. Public opinion about Israel is often hostile, especially during fighting in Gaza, while practical security and water cooperation continues. The tension between those positions is a lasting feature of Jordanian public life and of the monarchy's effort to preserve stability in a volatile region.