Lion of Jordan (118 page)

22
. Assaf Carmel, ‘Arik Sent Me',
Ha'aretz,
25 February 2005.

23
. Ali Shukri's notes, 28 September 1997, ‘The Private Papers of General Ali Shukri'.

24
. Assaf Carmel, ‘Arik Sent Me',
Ha'aretz,
25 February 2005.

25
.
Ze'ev
Schiff, ‘A Flaw in Strategic Thinking',
Ha'aretz,
14 November 1997.

26
. Interview with Ali Shukri.

27
. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXI: 1997
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000), 94.

28
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
393–4.

29
. Interview with Dr Mustafa Hamarneh.

30
. Robert Satloff, ‘The King is Back… and “Final Status” Talks May Be Just Round the Corner', 10 December 1997,
Peacewatch/Policywatch: Anthology 1997
, compiled and edited by Elyse Aronson and Monica Neal (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1998), 283–5.

31
. Doron Rosenblum, ‘A Little Anthology of Blindness and Eye-opening',
Ha'aretz,
12 February 2004.

32
. Smadar Peri, ‘The King and I: An Exclusive Interview with Ali Shukri',
Yediot Aharonot,
1 October 1999.

33
. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXII: 1998
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001), 77.

34
. Interview with Ali Shukri.

35
. Ali Shukri's notes, 11 February 1998, ‘The Private Papers of General Ali Shukri'. The conversation was in English and Ali Shukri's notes are also in English except for three words – ‘very nasty person' – which are written in Arabic in brackets.

36
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
400.

37
. Ibid., 400

1
. Queen Noor,
Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2003), 424.

2
. Adiba Mango, ‘Jordan on the Road to Peace 1988–1999' (unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 2002), 236–7.

3
. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXII: 1998
(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001), 362–8.

4
. Interview with Prince El Hassan bin Talal.

5
. Ibid.

6
. Samir A. Mutawi,
Jordan in the 1967 War
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 19–20.

7
. Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXII: 1998, 366.

8
. Interview with Adnan Abu-Odeh.

9
. Philip Robins,
A History of Jordan
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 196. Queen Noor denied that she influenced her husband to change the succession. Her main mission throughout their time in Mayo was to save her husband, and the situation did not seem hopeless until the very end. She kept hoping that the treatment would work and that he would recover. She is emphatic that she did not discuss the succession with her husband until he was about to tell Abdullah. Whenever relatives raised the issue, she replied it was the will of God and the judgement of Hussein. Whenever Abdul Karim Kabariti referred to the matter, she changed the subject. She had very little contact with General Samih Batikhi, and she certainly did not conspire with him against Hassan. Nor did she lobby for her son Hamzah, who was only eighteen at the time. Once the decision was made, she gave Abdullah all her support. All the rumours surrounding her role in the crisis emanated from Amman, and they were baseless. As for the letter that Hussein sent to Hamzah on his eighteenth birthday, it was written without Noor's knowledge. When she read the letter in the press, she thought it was unfortunate and pointed out to her husband that it may not be well received by Hassan. She did not push her son forward because there was an incumbent crown prince. Besides, Hussein and Hamzah had an excellent relationship; they were the best of friends. Hussein could talk to Hamzah directly about this or any other matter if he wanted to. Conversation with Queen Noor, Oxford, 12 Nov. 2006.

10
. Interview with Marwan Kasim.

11
. Interview with Princess Basma bint Talal.

12
. Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXII: 1998,
365.

13
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
413.

14
. Dennis Ross,
The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004), 448–9.

15
. Ibid., 450.

16
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
415.

17
. Ibid., 416.

18
. Interview with Ihsan Shurdom.

19
. Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey, 1998,
381–2.

20
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
416–18.

21
. Randa Habib email to Avi Shlaim, 12 December 2006.

22
. Maddy-Weitzman, ed.,
Middle East Contemporary Survey. Volume XXII: 1998,
364–6.

23
. Interview with Hussein Majali.

24
. Interview with Christopher Prentice, Oxford, 7 November 2006. Mr Prentice was the British ambassador to Amman, 2002–6.

25
. Interview with King Abdullah bin Hussein.

26
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
419–20.

27
. Interview with Prince El Hassan bin Talal and Princess Sarvath, London, 11 January 2007.

28
. Interview with Hussein Majali.

29
. Interview with King Abdullah bin Hussein.

30
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
420–21.

31
. Ibid., 420.

32
. Interview with Adnan Abu-Odeh.

33
. Noor,
Leap of Faith,
424.

34
. CNN transcript of 20 January 1999 interview with His Majesty King Hussein conducted by CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour in Amman. King Hussein's interviews and press conferences,
www.kinghussein.gov.jo
.

35
. Prince Hassan to King Hussein, 21 January 1999, reproduced in
Journal of Palestine Studies,
28:3 (Spring 1999).

36
. Twelve-page letter from El Hassan bin Talal to HM King Hussein, Amman, 28 January 1999.I am grateful to Prince Hassan for placing a copy of this letter, in its original Arabic
and in its English version, at my disposal. Prince Hassan expected this letter to be published because it was a reply to the king's letter of 25 January 1999, which was released to the media immediately. But the king's aides did not release the reply. General Samir Batikhi instructed Prince Hassan not to make any statements to the media following his dismissal. The lengths to which General Batikhi went to silence and neutralize Hassan suggest that he was afraid that Hassan might mount a counter-coup.

37
. Interview with Prince El Hassan bin Talal.

38
. Interviews with Hussein Majali and Fayez Tarawneh.

39
. Interview with King Abdullah bin Hussein.

40
. Noor,
Leap of Faith
, 426.

41
. Interview with Prince Talal bin Muhammad.

42
. Noor,
Leap of Faith
, 427.

43
. Interview with Hussein Majali.

44
. King Hussein to Prince Hassan, 25 January 1999, text reproduced in
Journal of Palestine Studies
, 28:3 (Spring 1999).

45
. El Hassan bin Talal to King Hussein, Amman, 28 January 1999. See Note 36.

46
. Interview with Marwan Kasim.

47
. Interview with Prince Talal bin Muhammad.

48
. Ibid.

49
. Interview with Hussein Majali. At St John's Eye Hospital in Jerusalem there is a photograph of King Hussein taken in 1961 signing a piece of paper that declared that on his death his eyes were to be removed and used to give sight to someone. He was the first person ever to issue such an instruction at the hospital, but for medical reasons when he died his eyes could not be used. I am grateful to Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, for this piece of information.

50
. Noor,
Leap of Faith
, 431–2.