The Near East since the First World War: A History to 1995 (A History of the Near East) by Malcolm Yapp

Author:Malcolm Yapp [Yapp, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781317890539
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2014-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

JORDAN

No country in the Near East endured greater territorial convulsions during the period following the Second World War than did Jordan; nor did any country, except Israel, enjoy greater political stability, economic growth and educational expansion. To explain this curious paradox is not easy and the difficulties are enhanced by the circumstance that Jordan (except for its foreign policy) is one of the least studied states of the Near East. Similar in size to Lebanon and Israel it has attracted only a fraction of the attention.

In terms of population Jordan was trebled in size in 1948–9 by the addition of the West Bank. In the following years the population grew rapidly but its balance changed. By 1961 of the 1.7 million Jordanians more than half lived on the East Bank compared to one-third in 1949. During this period there had been a major movement of people from the West to the growing towns of the East Bank, especially Amman which more than doubled its size to 433,000. Another change was the settlement and urbanization of the bedouin whose numbers fell from an estimated 200,000 in 1949 to 56,000 in 1961 with perhaps as many again classified as semi-nomad. By 1967 it was thought that more than half the population was urban. The 1967 war, which resulted in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank brought about a further, dramatic change in the population. An estimated 350,000 people fled to the East Bank and the movement continued in subsequent years; between 1967 and 1989 about 65,000 residents in the occupied territories moved to the east. The 1979 census showed 2.1 million residents on the East Bank, a figure roughly equal to the total population of both banks in 1967, and by 1989 this figure had risen to some 3 million, of whom about two thirds lived in towns, nearly 1 million in Amman alone.

One may summarize the changes in Jordan as follows. Jordan’s population grew from 400,000 to 3 million, changed its character from being basically pastoral and agricultural to urban, and changed its composition from being mainly east Jordanian tribes to fifty per cent or more of Palestinian origin. The challenge of domestic politics was to manage this change, to provide the resources necessary to satisfy the aspirations of the people and to integrate the different elements of the population.

A high rate of economic growth was essential in order to provide for so rapidly growing a population. This was achieved. Between 1951 and 1967 Jordan experienced an almost continuous boom, based on the development of agriculture (notably by irrigation of the Jordan valley), tourism, light manufacturing industry and the exploitation of minerals, especially potash and phosphates. In the seven years before the 1967 war growth averaged over 9 per cent per annum. The 1967 war completely disrupted Jordan’s economic development; the West Bank had contributed about 40 per cent of GNP, including most of Jordan’s agricultural production, as well as being a considerable asset to tourism through the existence of Jerusalem and the Holy Places.

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