An Arab's Patience

From the first, ambitious King Abdullah of Jordan had no intention of giving up the large chunk of eastern Palestine which his Arab Legion seized during the war with Israel. A few days after his cease-fire agreement with Israel in 1949, the King set up a civil administration for all of Palestine under his control, an area which includes the Old City of Jerusalem. Later he admitted Palestinian Arabs to his cabinet, then allowed the people of eastern Palestine to vote in Jordan's elections last April 11. Last week the King prodded his Parliament into formally unifying the conquered territory with the rest of Jordan.

The annexation, which more than doubled Jordan's population, was no great surprise to anyone. Nonetheless, the usual international amenities had to be observed and the international protests placed upon the record.

The British government, which subsidizes Abdullah's army, promptly gave public blessing to the annexation. The blessing was qualified only by a dutiful reminder that control of Jerusalem was supposed to be a matter for final decision by the United Nations. At the same time Britain announced her decision to grant full recognition to Israel, whose government had taken a live & let live attitude toward Abdullah.

From Jordan's fellow members of the

Arab League came pained outcries. "Human patience has a limit, even an Arab's patience," glowered League Secretary General Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha. Non-Jordan Arabs were angry at Abdullah, whose designs on eastern Palestine had long been a sore point with them. They were even angrier at Britain both for its support of Jordan and its recognition of Israel. And they strongly suspected the U.S. of winking at British maneuvers in the Middle East. Outraged as most Arab League nations were, however, there was little they could do but bark indignantly in the direction of Abdullah. With British backing, Jordan seemed secure in its new domain.

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