Sir, - In his article about King Hussein's successor (The Irish Times, January 30th), Richard Downes states that the 1994 peace treaty signed between Jordan and Israel has shown that "even Arabs who have suffered directly as a result of the expansion of the Jewish state can make peace". Richard Downes does not expand on the meaning of this statement, so let me remind your readers that if Arab states suffered, they did so as a result of defying the UN Resolution of November 29th, 1947.
Israel was willing to accept the terms of that Resolution, but in May 1948 King Abdullah of Transjordan (as it was called at the time) ordered his Arab Legion, under the command of a British officer, Major-General Glubb, to seize and hold the Old City of Jerusalem. After a year of warfare an armistice was agreed; in this, Jordan guaranteed free access to the holy places in the Old City, but, in fact, no Jews were allowed to visit the Western Wall during the 19 years of Jordanian rule in East Jerusalem.
In June 1967, just before the Six-Day War broke out, Israel sent messages to Jordan via the UN and the American Ambassador to the effect that Israel would take no action against Jordan provided it stayed out of the war, and would allow Jordan to continue its rule in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. However, the temptation to consolidate his hold on Jerusalem was too great for King Hussein. Jordan rejected Israel's offer, and within hours Jordanian forces opened fire on various parts of West Jerusalem. However, in the space of six days Jordan was driven back east of the river, and it was over a quarter of a century before Jordan could bring itself to sign the peace treaty it could have had so many years before. - Yours, etc.,
David Sowby, Knocksinna Crescent, Dublin 18.