The death of Jordan’s 63-year-old king leaves a real vacuum in Mideast leadership. His son, the newly appointed King Abdullah II, 37, has much to learn about running his own country before he can have a real voice in foreign affairs.
Hussein’s passing is just a first in a generational shift that the Arab world will be embarking upon. Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd is close to 75 and so ill that the country is being run by Crown Prince Abdullah, who is in his 70s. Syrian President Hafez Assad is 68 and suffering from repeated heart problems. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is 70 and has yet to even designate a successor to the office he has held since 1981.
Each time one of these countries changes rulers, the new head of state will be weighed on a moderation scale. The world will want to know if the gauge tips to the left, placing him on the side of the Western world, or if it tips to the right, placing him in the camp of Islamic fundamentalists.
And we Jews will wonder what each change means for Israel and for Mideast peace.
Hussein’s funeral in Amman already signaled a historic moment. For the first time ever, Syrian President Assad found himself in the same country and at the same event with a 23-member Israeli delegation that included the current and two former prime ministers. Also in attendance were Mubarak and Saudi Prince Abdullah.
If that weren’t enough of a surprise, a longtime guerrilla leader, Nayef Hawatmeh, suddenly approached Israeli President Ezer Weizman, shook his hand and said, “We know you as a man of peace. You’ve been fighting for peace for the past 20 years.”
Hawatmeh, whose Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is based in Damascus, went on to tell Weizman that it is time for peace between Israel and both Lebanon and Syria.
It’s too early to tell how significant that exchange between the two will be. But what is significant is that even in death, Jordan’s Hussein is continuing in his bid for Mideast peace.
May his spirit live on not only in Jordan but throughout the changing winds of the Mideast.