Jordan’s Royal Rift Underlines Its Need For Reform
For King Abdullah II, a discontented public will be harder to contain than a rebellious prince.
Subjects object.
Photographer: Khalil Mazraawi/AFP
The “strife has been buried,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II declared on Wednesday, referring to what his government had described as a plot to destabilize the country, involving Prince Hamzah, the former crown prince. But if the immediate threat to the monarch has been interred, and his half-brother interned, it would be foolish to infer that all is again well in the Hashemite kingdom.
Whatever Hamzah was planning — it is unlikely to have been a full-scale coup d’etat, since the army remained fully behind the king — his rhetoric, at least, was aimed at corruption and incompetence in high places and, by extension, palaces. While his rebellion failed, the prince may have succeeded in drawing international attention to issues deeply felt by most Jordanians.