Introduction
Jordan is a country in the Middle East that shares its borders with Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Palestine. It is the only country that despite being in an unstable region, is living in peace and is completely stable. If you look at the map below, you will see instability or wars in the neighbouring countries of Jordan. It has been successful in keeping itself safe from the fire that is burning its border countries, especially Israel and Palestine.
Why is that so? Although it had been a weak country for hundreds of years and was attacked many times by great empires. It lies on the way to holy cities like Jerusalem and Hebron (The site of the tomb of Abraham who is the father of all Abrahamic religions i.e. Jews, Christians, and Muslims). Babylonians, Muslims, Crusaders, and the Ottomans used to opt for this way to reach these sacred cities. Despite this backdrop, why is Jordan so peaceful and stable today? The answer lies in its history, geography, and policies.
Geography
First of all, we understand the geography of Jordan. 75 % of its area consists of the desert and it is the third driest country in the world. The rainfall here is less than 245mm per annum. Only 12 % of its land is suitable for agricultural purposes because of which 70 % of its food is imported from other countries. 90 % of its population lives in this 12 % cultivated land. Jordan is also not very lucky in terms of natural resources. The whole Middle East has plenty of oil and gas resources whereas Jordan has only one gas field that can run only one of its power plants. The rest of its energy needs are dependent on imports. So, geographically and resource-wise, Jordan is the most unlucky country in the Middle East. But the same disadvantage makes Jordan somewhat a safe country because there is no point in attacking or interfering in a country that has almost zero natural resources, unlike Syria and Iraq which have been the centre point of external insurgencies and internal conflicts for the last couple of decades.
History
If we look at the history of Jordan, it is opposite from modern-day Jordan. Different Empires had always been trying to attack and control it. About three thousand years ago, it was ruled by three kingdoms, Ammon, Moab, and Edom. After some time, all of these three kingdoms fell apart to the control of the Assyrian Empire. After a few years, the Babylonians captured the whole area. Around the 5th century BC, the Persian Empire took control of it and after defeating the Persians, the Greeks started ruling over it. After that, the Romans’ rule over this area began and they started to change it both culturally and administratively. This was the time when the Persian Empire rose again and continued fighting the Romans for this area till the end of the 6th century.
At last, in the 7th century, the Muslims defeated both empires and took control of it. For the next four hundred years, no one was able to regain its control from the Muslims until the 11th century when the Crusaders managed to conquer it. But in 12th century, the Muslims regained this territory and until 15th century, it remained under the Egyptian Mamelukes. From 16th to 20th century, it was a territory of the Ottomans but had no importance for them except being a route to Jerusalem. Neither did it have agriculture nor did it have a coastline. So, the Ottomans never gave importance to its people. Because of this, the locals were never happy with this great Muslim Empire. Because of this resentment, they also tried to revolt against the Ottomans in 1990, 1905, and 1910 but these revolts were crushed successfully by the Ottomans.
The Jordanians never forgot this defeat and took revenge in World War 1 by siding with the Britishers. But the Britishers also did not liberate it until 1946. This was the first time when Jordan emerged as an independent nation on the map of the world as the Hashmite Kingdom of Jordan. Its first king was King Abdullah Hussain I.
But things were never so simple for this newly liberated country because, on its western border, there was an emerging state of Israel. The whole Arab including Jordan was against this State of Israel. In 1948, Jordan along with seven Arab countries, went to war with Israel. This war is also known as the First Arab Israel War. In this war, Jordan was successful in taking control of the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem. Thousands of Palestinians embraced King Abdullah of Jordan as their king. Both of these areas remained part of Jordan till 1967. In 1967, Israel attacked Jordan in a 6-day war and got the control of Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza, and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel and Jordan continued fighting in 1970 and 1973 in which Jordan had to bear major losses. This was the time when thousands of Palestinians began migrating to Jordan and Jordanians welcomed them with an open heart. All this had negative impacts on Jordan and political and Economic instability prevailed in the country till 1999.
Here comes a question that is what happened after 1999 that turned Jordan into a stable, peaceful, and prosperous country? Actually, in 1999, the King’s health had deteriorated significantly and he had to nominate King Abdullah the second as his successor. The new king, immediately after taking charge, took drastic steps for his country, and among these, security and the welfare of his people were his top priorities. This is the reason that despite being the third driest country in the world, 99 % of the Jordanians have the facility of clean drinking water. Its human development index is 0.74 which is much higher than most of its neighbouring countries.
Likewise, as it has a very rich history, King Abdullah II, started promoting tourism as well. Its city, Petra, is included in the Seven Wonders of the World. How the mountains and cliffs were carved into houses in Petra is a miracle. Today, hundreds of thousands of people from America, Europe and Asia come to this country just for tourism. Such historical places are also found in Syria and Iraq but their law and order situation does not permit the tourists to do that.
Peace Treaty with Israel
To promote tourism exponentially in a country that is surrounded by countries that are always in a state of war, King Abdullah II signed a peace treaty with Israel. By keeping friendly relations with Israel, it automatically became an ally of the USA and the United Kingdom. This opened up the gate of financial aid for Jordan. These aids were used by the Jordanian government for the welfare and the betterment of its people.
But having a peace deal with Israel was a double-edged sword because the whole Arab was against Israel. Then why didn’t the Arab World take any action against Jordan? The reason behind this is that Jordan is hosting the most refuges not only in the Middle East but in the Entire World. Almost 3 million Palestinians, 1.1 million Syrians, 131 thousand Iraqis, 250 thousand Chechens, and 3 thousand Armenians are living in Jordan.
Because of this, the Arab World respects Jordan otherwise, these refugees may have created problems for other countries like Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Jordan has managed to keep these refugees with respect and the best possible facilities. That is the reason that the Arab Spring of 2011 had very little effect on Jordan. The Jordanian King immediately fulfilled the demands of the protestors at that time and did not allow any kind of force to be used against the protestors. So, because of this neutrality and hospitality, all of its neighbour countries respect it a lot.
The Future
This long-lasting stability and neutrality of Jordan seems to end very soon. For the last year, Jordan has been embarking on a journey that is very pro-Israel. Despite having seen the one year of the Gaza-Israel War, Jordan has not yet offered any kind of refuge to the oppressed Palestinians. This looks very strange especially when we see its history. On the same pattern, recently, when Iran launched missile attacks on Israel, many of these missiles were intercepted by the Jordanian Air Space. These developments have raised a negative sentiment about Jordan in Iran and Palestine. All this has destroyed the neutral image of Jordan.
These developments can take a negative trajectory against Jordan. The Palestinian refugee students in Jordan along with other groups may tend to provoke a revolt or series of protests against the government of Jordan. The Jordanian government is also worried about the situation. They consider Iran as a culprit of the unrest in Syria. Because of the Syrian Civil War, Jordan has to accept hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and its Northern Border has also become vulnerable. King Abdullah wants to keep the militant groups away from its borders. Because of this, he may further strengthen his ties with Israel and seek help from his Israeli counterpart. But this will be a bitter pill to swallow. What this rapidly evolving geopolitical situation brings for Jordan is yet to be witnessed but it seems that the most stable country in the Middle East is slowly heading towards unrest or conflict.
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