Secret Talks in 1963 Between Jordan and Israel
King Hussein's Meeting With Israeli Representative Yaacov Herzog
Jan 18, 2009
In the years preceding King Hussein's 47 year reign, the face both politically and geographically, of the Middle East had dramatically changed. In 1946 the British Mandate over Transjordan ended and Jordan, a name adopted in 1950, became an independent nation. In 1948 the end of the British Mandate of Palestine brought the foundation of the state of Israel.
Arab Israeli War 1948
Following the 1948 Arab Israeli war hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians fled to neighbouring countries for safety, a large proportion of which settled in Jordan and the West Bank an area which Jordan had annexed in 1950.
Palestinian Refugees
As Hussein took control he found himself monarch of a country of mainly Palestinian refugees all of them hating Israel and desperate for revenge and of course a chance to return to their homes. This was the situation during the 1950s through to 1967 when another Arab Israeli war again forced a redrawing of the borders, bringing yet more Palestinian refugees to Jordan.
Gamal Abdul Nasser
Jordan was surrounded by Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east, and of course Israel with its the long border to the west. On the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba were Egypt and its volatile leader Gamal Abdul Nasser, President, from 1952 until 1970 of the region’s most militarily powerful Arab country.
Destruction of Israel
During this period friendships and more formal alliances were formed then broken in the ebb and flow of Middle Eastern pan Arab politics that demanded the destruction of Israel.
The ever-pragmatic Hussein often found himself and his country vulnerable to both external and internal pressures, which makes his decision to talk secretly to the Israelis a courageous one.
Secret Meeting between Jordan and Israel
Arranging this meeting between the two countries was difficult but the Israelis knowing that Hussein would come to London several times a year, to visit his Jewish physician Doctor Herbert, decided that contact could be made this way.
Queen Zain
A member of the Israeli government approached Dr Herbert and asked him to get a message to Hussein and during a visit to London by his mother Queen Zain, also a patient of Herbert, in September 1960 she was asked to pass an invitation of talks to her son.
Avi Shlaim - Lion of Jordan
The story inevitably is convoluted but Hussein did get the message and on 24 September 1963 he met with Israeli representative Yaacov Herzog, described by Avi Shlaim in his book The Lion of Jordan as: "highly sophisticated, cultured and with a profound faith in Israel’s destiny."
Herzog who was the brother of Chaim Herzog the future President of Israel met Hussein in the St John’s Wood district of London.
Hussein appeared nervous but said that he was pleased to meet Herzog. In return Herzog said that: "The entire people of Israel viewed with sympathy and admiration King Hussein’s statesmanship, leadership and personal courage.”
The conversation turned to the American support of Nasser, which Hussein felt, left Jordan isolated forcing him to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
Much of the discussion centred on cooperation in the security, political and economic fields. Herzog also promised regular reports on Israeli assessments of military developments in other Arab countries.
The king knew that Israel was there to stay and that Jordan would only survive by talking to them and acknowledging their right to exist but an official peace treaty between the two countries was many years away (signed October 1994)
Meanwhile secret talk continued, some in London arranged again by Doctor Herbert and others held in various parts of the world..
With this information now in the public domain people can be forgiven for wondering at the circumstances behind Jordan’s decision to join Nasser on the losing side in the 1967 Arab Israeli war.
Source:
Avi Shlaim’s book “Lion of Jordan, the Life of King Hussein at War and Peace has been used as the source of information for this short article.
Mr Shlaim is a well-respected authority of Middle Eastern affairs and during his research for the book was given access to a number of primary sources of information and to the major players of the period, including King Hussein.
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