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Amman (Jordan)

Royal Rivalry Bares Social Tensions Behind Jordan’s Stable Veneer

April 10, 2021 by Staff Reporter

In recent years, Prince Hamzah has spoken out against high-level corruption, an issue the public associates with privatization. And he has visited tribal leaders and attended tribal events, perceived as a provocative attempt to foment tribal frustration and social discontent.

“He didn’t create these grievances,” said Mr. Ramadan, the former lawmaker. “He tapped into them.”

But before Prince Hamzah reinvented himself as a government critic, he was the epitome of a palace insider. After King Abdullah inherited the crown in 1999 from their father, King Hussein, he appointed Prince Hamzah as his own crown prince and successor.

King Abdullah, 59, is the eldest son of Hussein’s British-born second wife, Princess Muna. Prince Hamzah, 41, is the eldest son of Hussein’s American-born fourth wife, Queen Noor.

Both men were educated at Harrow, an elite British school, and Sandhurst, the British officer-training academy.

But their paths diverged in 2004, when King Abdullah removed his half brother as crown prince — later replacing him with his own son, Prince Hussein, now 26.

The decision devastated Prince Hamzah, according to Jordanian officials. He had been considered a favorite of King Hussein’s, a more polished orator with a more academic mind than King Abdullah, and had been groomed as a teenager for the throne. Suddenly he was ejected from the circle of influence, and cast around for a new role.

At one point he asked his half brother to be commander in chief of the armed forces, a request that King Abdullah declined, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

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Filed Under: WORLD Tagged With: Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Amman (Jordan), Corruption (Institutional), Government, Hamzah bin Hussein, Prince of Jordan, Jordan, Ramadan, Royal Families, Society

As Jordan Seeks to Quell Royal Feud, Allies of Prince Remain in Detention

April 6, 2021 by Staff Reporter

AMMAN, Jordan — Employees and associates of a Jordanian prince accused of plotting to undermine the government were still being held incommunicado by security forces on Tuesday, their relatives said, casting doubt on earlier claims by the royal court that it had resolved an unusually public and bitter rift between the prince, Hamzah bin Hussein, and his older half brother, King Abdullah II.

Prince Hamzah’s chief of staff, Yasser Majali, and Mr. Majali’s cousin, Samir Majali, were both arrested on Saturday, the day that the government claimed that the prince had been involved in a plot to destabilize the kingdom’s stability.

The Majali family, which comes from one of Jordan’s main tribes, said on Tuesday that the two were still being held in an unknown location, less than a day after the royal court released a statement that quoted Prince Hamzah as saying that he had pledged his loyalty to the king.

“Every time we call someone, they say we will get back to you,” said Abdullah Majali, Yasser’s brother, in an account corroborated by a second senior member of the Majali family. “We still don’t know where they are.”

Prince Hamzah’s whereabouts was also unknown as of Tuesday morning. And the Jordanian government issued a gag order on Tuesday that barred Jordanian news outlets and social media users from discussing the case.

The developments are the latest twists in a royal feud that exploded into public view over the weekend, upending the family’s reputation for discretion and the country’s image as a rare haven of stability in a turbulent region.

Jordan is a key partner in regional counterterrorism missions, a base for American troops and aircraft, and a major recipient of American aid. Bordering Syria, Iraq, Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, it is considered an important interlocutor in regional diplomacy — and a linchpin of any potential Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Over the weekend, the Jordanian government arrested several of Prince Hamzah’s staff members and associates, and accused the prince himself of working with a former senior royal aide and cabinet minister, Bassem Awadallah, to undermine the country’s stability.

The government’s statements hinted that those arrested had been involved in a foreign-backed coup attempt, but stopped short of using such direct language.

Prince Hamzah fired back with two videos in which he excoriated his brother’s government, but denied involvement in any plot and said he was being held under house arrest — an allegation the government denied.

By Monday night, tempers seemed to have calmed, as the royal palace released a statement written in the prince’s name in which he pledged to “stand behind His Majesty in his efforts to protect Jordan and its interests of the nation.”

But the uncertainty on Tuesday about the whereabouts of the Majalis and the prince himself suggested that tensions had not completely dissipated.

The government’s narrative was also placed under question on Tuesday by the leak of a recording of a conversation last week between the prince and the head of the Jordanian military, Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti.

In the recording, which was obtained by The New York Times and other media outlets, the general appears to acknowledge that the prince had not personally moved against the king, but had instead attended social gatherings where criticism of the government was made by others.

With coronavirus-related deaths on the rise in Jordan, the prince’s allies say he had attended more wakes and funerals than usual.

“During these meetings, there was talk about the government’s performance and the performance of the crown prince,” General Huneiti said, according to the recording.

“This talk came from me?” replied Prince Hamzah.

“No,” the general said. “From the people you were meeting with. We both know, sir, this crossed the red lines. People have begun speaking out more than they should. Therefore, I hope his royal highness abides and refrains from attending such occasions.”

The Majali family expressed doubt that any relatives were ever even in a position to support a supposed plot to destabilize the kingdom.

Samir Majali had met just a few times with Prince Hamzah for lunch, in his formal capacity as a tribal elder, said Samir’s cousin Hisham Majali.

Yasser had been convalescing at home after a heart attack followed by a bout of the coronavirus, and had not been to work in several weeks, his brother, Abdullah Majali, said.

Neither man had a connection to Mr. Awadallah, their relatives said.

“They don’t even know him,” said Abdullah. “It’s unacceptable that they would link their names.”

Many Jordanians also believe that Prince Hamzah himself and Mr. Awadallah would be unlikely co-conspirators. Prince Hamzah is closely tied with Jordan’s Indigenous tribes, like the Majalis, while Mr. Awadallah, a former head of the royal court, is one of the many Jordanian citizens from families of Palestinian origin.

The pair have different views on economic and political policy. And while Mr. Awadallah was often a target of government critics while he was in office, the prince presents himself as a proponent of good governance.

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Filed Under: WORLD Tagged With: Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Amman (Jordan), Coronavirus, Family, Government, Hamzah bin Hussein, Prince of Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Media, New York, New York Times, Policy, Politics and Government, Social Media, Syria, West Bank

Jordan Hospital’s Oxygen Shortage Tied to at Least 7 Deaths

March 13, 2021 by Staff Reporter

At least seven people died at a hospital in Jordan on Saturday after it ran out of oxygen, according to Jordanian news reports, prompting an outcry in the kingdom, a visit to the hospital by King Abdullah II and the resignations of the country’s health minister and the hospital’s director.

Officials said that all of the victims were being treated for the coronavirus and that they had died after an interruption of oxygen supply that lasted around an hour at a government hospital in Salt, northwest of Amman, the capital.

Many countries across the world, including Mexico, Nigeria and Egypt, have faced oxygen supply shortages that have driven up the virus death toll. In Mexico, prices for oxygen have spiked, sales of oxygen tanks have thrived on the black market, and criminal groups have stolen them from hospitals. In Egypt, a New York Times investigation found that at least three patients had died of oxygen deprivation in a hospital that was running out of it earlier this year.

Last month, more than 500,000 people infected with the coronavirus were in need of oxygen every day, according to the World Health Organization, which identified up to 20 low- and middle-income countries that were in urgent need of oxygen supplies, including Malawi, Nigeria and Afghanistan. But there have also been fears that the world’s oxygen supply would be unable to meet the needs of all of those who need it, which include not only Covid-19 patients but also those being treated for many other diseases.

Al-Mamlaka TV.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of the hospital to protest against the shortage of oxygen, including relatives of victims, according to news reports and photographs, and a video circulating online showed the king, in military fatigues, speaking with what appeared to be an official at the hospital as similarly clad members of his entourage held back a surging crowd.

Jordan, a country of 10 million people, has reported over 5,200 Covid-19 deaths, according to a count by The Times. On Friday, it received a first shipment of 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

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Filed Under: WORLD Tagged With: Abdullah II, King of Jordan, Afghanistan, Amman (Jordan), Coronavirus, Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), COVID-19, Deaths (Fatalities), Egypt, Government, Hospitals, internal-essential, Mexico, New York, New York Times, Nigeria, Oxygen, Protest, Shortages

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