Jordan, Palestine, and the Politics of Collective Identity: A History

In a sweeping narrative, Asher Susser traces the evolution of Jordanian politics through the prism of the kingdom's policies toward Palestine and the Palestinians. 

Susser shows how the triangular relationship involving Jordan, the Palestinians, and Israel--from the creation of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921 to the present--came to influence the Jordanians' sense of collective identity, the impact it had on the making of peace between Jordan and Israel, and how it has shaped the complex and often tense relationship between Jordanian citizens of Palestinian origin and their East Bank compatriots. His work also sheds crucial light on Jordanian perceptions of their national security in the context of the war between Israel and Hamas.

CONTENTS: 

• The Making of a "Fateful Triangle."
• Jordan, Israel, and Palestine (1948-1967).
• The 1967 War: Demise of the Post-1948 Political Order.
• Hussein's Retreat.
• The Evolution of Jordanian Identity.
• Jordanian Identity and the Palestinians.
• The Politics of Peace with Israel.
• King Abdullah II Inherits the "Cold Peace."
• The King and the East Bankers: An Uneasy Relationship.
• Wrestling with an Obsolete Social Contract.
• The Enigma of Hashemite Resilience.