Early Jordan .
- Before 8,000 BC stone age hunters lived in what is now Jordan. However, in 8,000 BC people in the region began farming although they still used stone tools. People began to live happily in the village .In 5000 BC people were started making pottery. By 4000Bc they started to smelted copper & in 3,200BC they learned to make bronze tools . During the bronze age, many people in Jordan lived in fortified towns. At that time there was a trade between Egypt and Iraq.
- After Jordan was divided into highly organized kingdoms. The most important kingdoms were Moab, Edom and Among. Then after 500Bc ,Arabs called the Nabataeans migrated to Jordan. They developed a kingdom based on the trade routes through the area and their capital was at Petra. Later Roman become the new power in the Middle East.
- Under Roman rule Jordan continued to flourish and they started spread Christianity. However the Roman Empire split in two divisions Andrew Jordan become the part of the Eastern part, known as the Byzantine Empire.
- However in the 7th century Jordan was conquered by Muslims and become part of the Islamic world. For a centuries Jordan continued its traditional role of being a trade route between other areas. In 1516, it become part of the Turkish Empire. For some centuries Jordan changed little.
- In the late 19th century Muslim came from the Russian Empire and felt persecution. In 1908 the Hejaz railway was built from Damascus to Medina. In 1914 First World war began that time the Turkish Empire joined the German side.
Modern Jordan
- At the time Arab nationalism was growing, and these was encouraged by the British. In June 1916 a rebellion started and this was known as the Great Arab Revolt. In these revolt Turkey was defeated by the allies power in 1918. However, Jordan was not to allowed to become independent. Because of British mandate Jordan not allowed complete independence and the mandate made in the year 1921.Later Abdullah was made as emir and finally Jordan got independence in 1946 and Abdullah became King.
- However king Abdullah was assassinated in 1951.Later He was replaced by his son Talal. Followed by that in 1952 Hussein became the king. During 1960s and 1970s economic growth took place in Jordan . Martial law was declared in 1967 but the elections took place in the year 1989.further elections were held in 1993. In 1994 Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel . Abdullah 2 become the king of Jordan in 1999. Today Jordan faces economic challenges such as poverty and unemployment but the economy is growing steadily. Jordan has great potential for tourism also. Today in Jordan they were 10.2million population were increased.
Jordan-Palestine relations are strong in historical but sometimes unstable bilateral relations between Hashemite kingdom of Jordan and the State of Palestine. Jordan has an office in Ramallah, while Palestine has an embassy in Amman. They are both members of the Arab League, OIC, and Union for the Mediterranean.
1949–1967
- Jordan annexed the West Bank in 24 April 1950, after the 1949 armistice agreements. In 1951, King Abdullah I was assassinated by a Palestinian from the Husayni clan. After the annexation, all Palestinians in the West Bank became Jordanian citizens In the Jordanian parliament, there were 30 seats for both the West and East banks, making roughly equal populations. Palestinians in the West Bank did not face discrimination and were given the same equal rights as the Jordanians of the East Bank.
1967–198
- After the Six-Day War, Jordan lost control of the West Bank to Israel. However, the Palestinians in the West Bank lost neither their citizenship nor their seats in the Jordanian parliament. About 300,000 Palestinians fled to Jordan. In 1970, a conflict broke out between the Jordanian Armed Forces led by King Hussein and the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat. This conflict was known as Black September. After the war, Jordan expelled the PLO. Palestinians in the West Bank would retain their Jordanian citizenship until Jordan renounced all claims to the West Bank on 31 July 1988. Jordan later recognized the PLO as “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
Israel–Jordan relations refers to the diplomatic, economic and cultural relations between Israel and Jordan. The two countries have had official diplomatic relations since the 1994 signing of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Recently, relations have been strained due to the conflict over the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Jordan has also benefited economically from the peace treaty. As a result of the treaty, Qualified Industrial Zones were developed in Jordan. In these zones, companies that use a percentage of Israeli inputs can export duty-free to the United States. As of 2010, the zones have generated 36,000 jobs, and have become the strongest engine for Jordan’s economic growth. The opposition Muslim Brotherhood movement has asked the government to shut them down, but the government maintains that the zones provide jobs for thousands of Jordanians.
Israel has facilitated Jordanian trade with Iraq and Turkey since 2013 by allowing goods to be transported by truck via the Jordan River Crossing near Beit She’an. The goods are taken to Haifa Port and shipped from there to Iraq and Turkey Previously this trade passed overland through Syria but has been disrupted by the Syrian Civil War.
According to a 2016 agreement valued at US$10 billion, Israel will supply Jordan with 45 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas over 15 years. The gas will be supplied by a new pipeline scheduled for completion by 2020 that will stretch from the Israel–Jordan border to the Arab Gas Pipeline near Mafraq The Jordanian government maintains that procuring gas from Israel will save Jordan JD700 million per year in energy costs.
Reference.
- Chester William. The Penguin History of Europe, Edition reprint, Penguin UK,2002.
- Salibi K. The Modern History of Jordan ,Edition illustrated revised, IB Tauris, 1998
