Imagine this scenario: Yasser Arafat returns home after being treated foran illness. Approaching the coast, fighter planes of the Israeliairforce escort his plane as a honor guard. The control towerin Lod issues words of welcome. Arafat responds in kind. The mediagives enthusiastic coverage to the event.
Something like it will undoubtedly happen, in five, ten or twenty years.Today it may still seem like a fantasy. But it is precisely what happenedonly a few days ago, when King Hussein returned home.
The average Israeli hates Arafat, fears Asad, despises Saddam, isindifferent to Mubarak, removed from Hasan and a stranger to Fahd. Buthe is absolutely in love with the Hashemite King Hussein.
But why? The king is a dictator, like any other Arab leader. Jordan isa police state. The king’s generally soft hand can turn into an iron fistwhen his rule is under threat — as was the case during Black September,when he shelled Palestinian refugee camps in his state. During theSix-Day War the king’s artillery shelled West Jerusalem, and he joined thewar-front against Israel. So what is it about this king that has socaptured our hearts?
It’s true, over the years he met in secret with many Israeli leaders. Hisgrandfather, the then Emir Abdallah, had met with Golda Meir even beforethe war of 1948. Hussein himself had done something unbelievable when herevealed to Golda the Egyptian plan to attack Israel on Yom Kippur, a planwhose entire success hinged on the element of surprise. But this lovegoes far beyond political interests.
Last week one journalist listed Hussein’s virtues in Israeli eyes: He isWestern in manners and dress, and he speaks excellent English. (BetterEnglish, in fact, than any Israeli politician. Even Prime MinisterNetanyahu’s English is flat and shallow when compared to thelinguistic richness of the king.) But this love transcends evencharacter traits, the personal charisma, the humane gestures (such asthe speech at Rabin’s funeral, or the genuflection before thebereaved Israeli families from the Naharayim attack). The proof isthat the love for his grandfather was passed on to him and hassurrounded other family members as well.
Once Eliahu Sasson, a long-time member of the Jewish AgencyPolitical Department, complained to me about theingratitude of the Hashemites. For example: In 1941 King FaisalII, Hussein’s cousin, and his uncle, the regent Abd-Illah,were forced to escape from Iraq. They arrived in Palestine and theHaganah put at their disposal a “secret” broadcasting station onMount Carmel, helping them in other ways as well. But when theBritish returned Faisal to Baghdad, he severed all contancts with theZionist leadership (and according to a credible version, his Britishpatrons even organized the famous anti-Jewish pogrom in Baghdad).
But even this has not cooled at all the continuing Israeli love affairwith the Hashemites. Every Israeli government has gone out of its way toensure Hussein’s rule. When the Egyptian leader Gamal Abd-el-Nasserthreatened Hussein, Israel officially declared that any change in theAmman government would prompt an immediate Israeli involvement. Whenthe Syrian army invaded Jordan in September of 1970, Golda threatenedwith an Israeli invasion of Jordan and compelled the Syrians towithdraw. Ben-Gurion, Golda, Yigal Alon, Abba Eban, MosheDayan — all were sworn believers in the “Joradanian Option,” withShimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin surpassing them all.
After I had established the first contacts with the PLO leadership, Iheld a series of talks with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1975. Hewent to great lengths to explain to me that he would never make even thesmallest move towards the Palestinians, and that peace should be made onlywith King Hussein. His explanation seemed to me blatantly irrational, incontrast with his characteristic analytical rationality. I pondered thenthe roots of this Hashemite love affair.
In my opinion, this love affair had two reasons — one practical andconscious and the other more profound and subconscious.
The practical reason had to do with Jerusalem. It went asfollows: “The king’s capital is Amman. Jerusalem is not his capital.Which is why he can afford to give it up. If he gives Jerusalem upwe can give him back most of the West Bank and even Gaza.”
That, of course, was an utter illusion, stemming from ignorance andcontempt for the king. The Hashemite family is the family of theProphet, and Hussein is a direct descendant of Mohammed. The very notionthat, of all people, it would be Hussein who would officially give up theHoly Jerusalem, was baseless to begin with. (They say that when Husseininformed Abd-el-Nasser of his impending secret meeting with YigalAllon, the Egyptian leader responded: “You can meet with anyone youwant just as long as you remember this: If you give up Jerusalem,Arab history will never forgive you.”)
But there is a deeper reason for this love. Hussein’s overwhelmingvirtue is that he is not a Palestinian. True, most of his subjects arePalestinians and he had control over the West Bank for a few years. Butthe roots of the Hashemite family lie in the city of Mecca. Our entirerelationship with the Palestinians is burdened with a huge weight offears, emotions, complexes, memories, myths, matters ofconscience and feelings of guilt. Most of these feelings aresupressed and subconscious, which makes them that much moredangerous. All this in addition to the very real fact that with thePalestinian people we are engaged in a historic battle for land. ButHis Majesty is entirely outside of this vicious circle.
So we can freely hang on his every word, kiss his cheek, anguish over hishealth, shower him with compliments, give him back territory andquantities of precious water. Were Israel to give one tenth of allthese to Yasser Arafat, peace would have come to dwell amongst us along time ago. But just that Isralis find difficult to do.
So Israelis wish good health to His Majesty, to his deputy andto all his heirs, whoever they may be. As long as they areHashemites and not Palestinians.