Time: 7:30 AM, A day in October 1974.
Place: the boarding school house at the YMCA, Ramallah, the West Bank.
The little 10 years old boy is waiting for the school bus to collect him from that boarding house to his school in Jerusalem; the distance is about 10 miles or 17 kilometers. He was holding two books; the first one was for one of Israel's most distinguished political and military writers, Ze'ev Schiff, about Israel during the 1973 October war, just fresh out of the presses, and the second was for one of Egypt’s most eloquent political writers, Mohamed El-Tabei, about the events that led to the 1952 Military coup and later on the end of the Muhammad Ali royal dynasty rule in Egypt. That boy loved to read, and now he loves to write, what a dilemma... The yellow bus arrived, the boy climbed the few steps, took his usual seat by the window and to the journey to Jerusalem. His parents put him in that school in Jerusalem, about 100 kilometers or 80 miles away from Gaza where his home and family were and lived. The bus driver and his assistant as usual were fighting, not sure over what but they used to fight all the time.
The bus started rolling through the narrow streets of Ramallah, and passed by The Friends School and to the mountain road to Jerusalem. The 1973 war just ended, and the name of the king of Jordan was not to be found or mentioned; it has been like this since the 1967 war. No one dared even his closest allies and money collectors to open their mouth with one word to praise him-publicly- or at least be fair to him. To the masses, he lost the Eastern part of Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967 war that he did not want to enter, and he did not want to participate. Wisely, of course, he did not go to war in 1973; otherwise, the East Bank would have been lost and it would have been the end of the Hashemite from their last resort.
One little boy did not care about all this politicking, the ten years old boy. The first time he passed by a beautiful unfinished palace on a beautiful hill in the suburbs of Jerusalem, he asked, for why it is not finished, when it will be finished and to whom it belongs. The whole bus went into silence, you could even hear a needle drop, just frightened looks and then came the big answer, a long, loud Hushhhhhhhhh; it belongs to King Hussein; a “courageous” student whispered, the king of Jordan then. That boy very innocently asked about something he felt beautiful but unfinished , and since then, he kept track of beautiful things- from his perspective- in life. He did not think politics, games, wearing different hats for different occasions and audiences; he just threw it out there.
The Story of Jordan is the king and the King is Jordan, period. Their core and heart and soul of their post 1948 political existence was uprooted when they listened to the voices of hypocrisy and demagoguery that came from, at that time, the capital of hypocrisy, Egypt's Nasser, from the second capital of Hypocrisy, Syria’s Baath and from the emotional charge that Nasser deceivably electrified the Arab countries calling for war on Israel. Of course, the Arabs just talked and screamed their lungs out while Israel took action, very smart- any other country in its position must have done the same thing- preemptive strikes and defeated three Arab countries, took Sinai, The Golan, The West Bank, and the Gaza strip.
The king knew then as the current one knows-his son Abdullah- that he will never again be the king of Jerusalem. The talk now is a two state solution, the State of Israel and the State of Palestine with Jerusalem as the capital of both. The Hashemite might continue to oversee the religious sites for Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem but nothing more. Jordan is Jordan and Palestine and Israel are Palestine and Israel.
The Hashemite are popular among the Jordanians Bedouins, the backbone of the military and the backbone of the royal family. The Hashemite, originally, the rulers of Mecca and Hejaz until the early of the 20th century when the House of Saud kicked them out of power and established the modern- of course I’m using the word modern here loosely to describe an era but not actual modern mentality or anything from that sort- Saudi Arabia. They, the Hashemite, went on to rule Syria, Iraq, and Jordan; they were murdered in a bloody coup by bloody officers in Iraq in 1958 and before that, they were thrown out of power from Syria. They are in Jordan now. I personally want to see them to continue to rule Jordan, but Jordan is tough, with over 70% of the demography, originally Palestinians, the poverty, and the rumors of ongoing government corruptions, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious organization, disguised as a political party. I have to stick to my style though, the monarchy continues in Jordan but as a constitutional monarchy like in England. As a matter of fact, the mother of the king of Jordan is English, and in Jordan, they say that he speaks English better than Arabic; to me this is not an insult actually. Let us wait and see, it is not easy for the Hashemite, it has never been easy for them. The bus has arrived, and it is time for that boy to go to his first class, Mrs. Aabdin, the English teacher, is waiting.
Place: the boarding school house at the YMCA, Ramallah, the West Bank.
The little 10 years old boy is waiting for the school bus to collect him from that boarding house to his school in Jerusalem; the distance is about 10 miles or 17 kilometers. He was holding two books; the first one was for one of Israel's most distinguished political and military writers, Ze'ev Schiff, about Israel during the 1973 October war, just fresh out of the presses, and the second was for one of Egypt’s most eloquent political writers, Mohamed El-Tabei, about the events that led to the 1952 Military coup and later on the end of the Muhammad Ali royal dynasty rule in Egypt. That boy loved to read, and now he loves to write, what a dilemma... The yellow bus arrived, the boy climbed the few steps, took his usual seat by the window and to the journey to Jerusalem. His parents put him in that school in Jerusalem, about 100 kilometers or 80 miles away from Gaza where his home and family were and lived. The bus driver and his assistant as usual were fighting, not sure over what but they used to fight all the time.
The bus started rolling through the narrow streets of Ramallah, and passed by The Friends School and to the mountain road to Jerusalem. The 1973 war just ended, and the name of the king of Jordan was not to be found or mentioned; it has been like this since the 1967 war. No one dared even his closest allies and money collectors to open their mouth with one word to praise him-publicly- or at least be fair to him. To the masses, he lost the Eastern part of Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967 war that he did not want to enter, and he did not want to participate. Wisely, of course, he did not go to war in 1973; otherwise, the East Bank would have been lost and it would have been the end of the Hashemite from their last resort.
One little boy did not care about all this politicking, the ten years old boy. The first time he passed by a beautiful unfinished palace on a beautiful hill in the suburbs of Jerusalem, he asked, for why it is not finished, when it will be finished and to whom it belongs. The whole bus went into silence, you could even hear a needle drop, just frightened looks and then came the big answer, a long, loud Hushhhhhhhhh; it belongs to King Hussein; a “courageous” student whispered, the king of Jordan then. That boy very innocently asked about something he felt beautiful but unfinished , and since then, he kept track of beautiful things- from his perspective- in life. He did not think politics, games, wearing different hats for different occasions and audiences; he just threw it out there.
The Story of Jordan is the king and the King is Jordan, period. Their core and heart and soul of their post 1948 political existence was uprooted when they listened to the voices of hypocrisy and demagoguery that came from, at that time, the capital of hypocrisy, Egypt's Nasser, from the second capital of Hypocrisy, Syria’s Baath and from the emotional charge that Nasser deceivably electrified the Arab countries calling for war on Israel. Of course, the Arabs just talked and screamed their lungs out while Israel took action, very smart- any other country in its position must have done the same thing- preemptive strikes and defeated three Arab countries, took Sinai, The Golan, The West Bank, and the Gaza strip.
The king knew then as the current one knows-his son Abdullah- that he will never again be the king of Jerusalem. The talk now is a two state solution, the State of Israel and the State of Palestine with Jerusalem as the capital of both. The Hashemite might continue to oversee the religious sites for Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem but nothing more. Jordan is Jordan and Palestine and Israel are Palestine and Israel.
The Hashemite are popular among the Jordanians Bedouins, the backbone of the military and the backbone of the royal family. The Hashemite, originally, the rulers of Mecca and Hejaz until the early of the 20th century when the House of Saud kicked them out of power and established the modern- of course I’m using the word modern here loosely to describe an era but not actual modern mentality or anything from that sort- Saudi Arabia. They, the Hashemite, went on to rule Syria, Iraq, and Jordan; they were murdered in a bloody coup by bloody officers in Iraq in 1958 and before that, they were thrown out of power from Syria. They are in Jordan now. I personally want to see them to continue to rule Jordan, but Jordan is tough, with over 70% of the demography, originally Palestinians, the poverty, and the rumors of ongoing government corruptions, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious organization, disguised as a political party. I have to stick to my style though, the monarchy continues in Jordan but as a constitutional monarchy like in England. As a matter of fact, the mother of the king of Jordan is English, and in Jordan, they say that he speaks English better than Arabic; to me this is not an insult actually. Let us wait and see, it is not easy for the Hashemite, it has never been easy for them. The bus has arrived, and it is time for that boy to go to his first class, Mrs. Aabdin, the English teacher, is waiting.
No comments :
Post a Comment