The Kingdom of Jordan: The Eye of the Hurricane in a Turbulent Middle East

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, situated not only physically at the center of the world has also been the center of some of its most significant moments. These involved the Kingdom’s role in supporting peace between Israel and Egypt alongside former President and Humanitarian Jimmy Carter. Carter, demonized for his Southern style and failures in the Middle East, especially during the Iran Hostage Crisis, engineered one of its greatest diplomatic feats ever: Peace between ancient enemies, Israel and Egypt. Their long-standing vendetta which had real consequences for centuries nearly moved the modern world to the brink of World War 3. In stepped President Carter, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and eventually, the Royal Family of Jordan and all that changed. In this paper I would like to explore the personalities, roles and conditions that brought them together, re-celebrate their achievements, and challenge the world to model their characters and repeat their successes. Once again or even still, Israel is the pearl in the Middle Eastern oyster, and a weary world is eager move on. It is my hope my research will give us an inkling where to begin a process that could once again prevent a Global Conflict.

Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya: From Terrorism to Nonviolence

In 1981, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Over the next two decades, the group transformed from one of the most active terrorist groups in Egypt to an Islamist group that officially renounced armed action. The chapter first traces the rise of the group and investigates what pushed it to resort to violence. The increased scale and scope of violence was generated by the same causal mechanisms that explained the Muslim Brotherhood’s turn to violence: politicization, mistrust of government, a sense of betrayal by the regime, desire for revenge, and a slippery slope of militarization. The chapter then looks at the transformation of the organization starting with the 1997 Nonviolence Initiative. The analysis reveals that the high audience cost of violence and growing public condemnation led al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya’s leaders to rethink the group’s mission and push for permanent disengagement from violence.

17. Middle East Conflicts in the 1980s

This chapter focuses on conflicts in the Middle East during the 1980s. Despite the Camp David settlement, peace remained elusive in the Middle East. An Egyptian–Israeli settlement could neither resolve the conflict between Israel and the Arab states nor bring stability and peace to the region. Anwar Sadat and Menachim Begin had achieved a limited peace for Egypt. Egypt, for its part, had abandoned the myth of Arab unity between the competing states of the region and pursued national interests. However, other conflicts were taking place in the region, including those arising from the Lebanese Civil War, which added to the fundamental failure to deal with the Palestinian Question. The chapter first considers Israel’s invasion of Lebanon before discussing the Arab–Israeli conflict and the Palestinian Question, the Iran–Iraq war of 1980–8, and the accusation of the US, that Libya was a supporter of ‘international terrorism’.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITY IN EGYPT (20th – EARLY 21st CENTURIES)

The article examines the origins of political Islam in the Middle East and the terminological aspect of the problem. The stages of the formation of the Egyptian Islamic organization Muslim Brotherhood were clarified and its key ideological tenets were established. The political and socio-economic circumstances in which the organization was formed are outlined. Attention is drawn to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the military and economic presence in Egypt of the United Kingdom, which consolidated political Islamic parties. The process of transforming the Muslim Brotherhood from a "group of like-minded people" into a political party is considered. The political and legal ideas of the founder of the organization Hasan al-Banna are covered. which became the main strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood. The situation of the organization in the 30's and 40's was analyzed during the attempt of Nazi Germany to turn the Brothers into their own puppet. The article reveals the role in the organization of its ideologist Said Qutb. His main ideas and views, which formed the basis of the radical Muslim Brotherhood branch, are analyzed. The link between the radicalism of the organization and the ultra-conservative trend of Islam - "Salafism" - was noted. The connection of the Muslim Brotherhood with the Free Officers organization, which came to power in Egypt in 1952, has been disclosed. It was stated that the Brothers supported General Gamal Nasser in the struggle for power, which allowed them to take part in the parliamentary elections. It is stated that the Brothers' criticism of the policies of Gamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat on Israel led to a ban of the organization's activities in Egypt. It has been established that under the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, the "Brothers" tried to enter parliament in other parties. The place and role of the organization during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, which led the Muslim Brotherhood to power, were examined. The main reasons for the failure of the organization are indicated.

Lessons from the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Talks

This article is based on an interview conducted in July 2018 with Aharon Barak. In it, Barak reflects on the peace negotiations with Egypt at Camp David during 13 days in September 1978. While expressing great appreciation for the American negotiating team, first and foremost for President Jimmy Carter, for bringing the talks to a successful close, Barak considers negotiating with Carter as the toughest experience of his life. According to Barak, who had just completed his role as legal advisor to the government (1975–1978) and was appointed to the Supreme Court, the key people in the Israeli delegation were Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, and Ezer Weizman, while the key players in the Egyptian delegation were Anwar Sadat and Osama El-Baz. The negotiations went through ups and downs and had reached the brink of collapse until the Americans proposed that Carter negotiate directly with El-Baz and Barak. In the article’s conclusion, some important insights are deduced from this interview for future, successful negotiations.

The Birth of the Dovish Left

This chapter describes the rise of the Israeli Peace Camp. It took place over a long period of time, and though the various organizations composing this peace camp were rooted in a left-wing ideology, their engagement did not come about as a result of a preconceived strategy but rather as a reaction to often unforeseeable events or psychological shocks, such as the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the Likud victory of 1977, the visit of Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem in 1979, and the Lebanon War of 1982. In order to date the birth of the dovish left, we must go all the way back to the Six-Day War.

Faisal’s Enduring Imprint; The Shah’s Vaulting Ambition

King Faisal added intelligence-sharing to the existing commercial and military cooperation with Washington. Opposed to pan-Arabism favored by Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdul Nasser, he promoted pan-Islamism. After Egypt’s defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Nasser ended his rivalry with Faisal. During that war, Arab oil producers stopped supplies to America and Britain for supporting Israel. Though their boycott was brief, it led to the formation of the Organization of Arab Oil Exporting Countries (OAPEC). After the failed attempt by a Christian zealot to set alight Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in August 1969, Faisal was instrumental in the formation of the inter-governmental Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Next year, following Nasser’s sudden death, he found rapport with his successor, Anwar Sadat. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Faisal led OAPEC’s oil embargo in response to America’s massive military aid to Israel. The subsequent spike in oil prices provided Faisal with huge funds which he deployed to extend Saudi influence abroad. The Shah extended his influence to Afghanistan by bank-rolling the cash-starved regime of President Daoud Khan, and training his secret agents to murder Marxist leaders. In response, leftist army officers, led by Nur Taraki, mounted a coup in April 1978.