Located at the North-East of the Arabic peninsula, Jordan (91 ' 840 km2) is in major part occupied by the desert. It is limited to the east and the south by Saudi Arabia, in the North-East by Iraq, north by Syria and the west by Israel.
Of all the States resulting from the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, Jordan is that whose construction appears most artificial and whose territorial consistency was more changing.
Transjordanie
In September 1922, Transjordanie (east of the Jordan) is placed under British mandate and is entrusted to the emir Abdullah, one of the sons of the emir Husayn of Mecque. The creation of this new territorial entity fills the wishes of Great Britain which, by entrusting it to Hachémite, thinks of honouring the promise made during the war with the emir Husayn create an Arab kingdom in return for its alliance against Istanbul. This new territory prolongs the British domination of the isthmus between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.
In addition, Transjordanie is a territory plug between Syria under French supervision and the Arabique peninsula where the power of the Saoudis continues. The north-western border, which follows the course of Yarmouk partly, corresponds to the limit between the areas placed under French mandate and those which are placed under British mandate. The other delimitations remain a long time vague. The outlet on the Red Sea in Aqaba is acquired only in 1925; this maritime window of Jordan will be carried from 6 to 25 km thanks to a later arrangement (1965) with Riyadh. With Iraq, the border is fixed only in 1932.
The annexation of the West Bank
As for the Western borders, they fluctuated with the multiple adventures of the Israeli-Arab conflict. In 1949, after the consecutive agreements of armistice to the first Israeli-Arab war, Transjordanie annexes the West Bank (Samarie and part of Judaea), which was held by the Arab Legion.
The kingdom becomes Jordan then. The profit of territory is weak, but potentially important: 5878 km2 of good grounds profiting from a Mediterranean climate are added to 88 ' 000 km2 steppe or desert of Transjordanie. The settlement of the kingdom is deeply transformed. One then counted there some 375 ' 000 Bedouins, in major part turned into a sedentary population; the annexation of the West Bank inflates manpower considerably: to the 460 ' 000 Cisjordanians 350 ' 000 Palestinian refugees are added.
Jordan passes in a few months of 375 ' 000 to 1 ' 200 ' 000 h. If part of the Palestinian middle-class contributes to the dynamism and the prosperity of the new State, the mass of the refugees piles up in the camps and the shantytowns with the periphery of the cities, in particular of the Amman capital. An active policy of assimilation is led, aiming at integrating the Palestinians, who obtain Jordanian nationality automatically. The oppositions between Bedouins and Palestinians remain sharp however; they will be exacerbated after the war of 1967.
Centring towards the east
The war of the Six-Jours has catastrophic consequences for Jordan. The kingdom is amputee of the West Bank where, on 5.7 % of the Jordanian territory, concentrated at the time 47 % of the population, 48 % of the industrial plants, the essence of the agricultural production.
The Israeli annexation also involves the loss of the holy Places, an exceptional tourist pole and an important source of currencies for the economy. Eastern Jordan must then face a new surge of Palestinian refugees (approximately 300 ' 000) and the kingdom, within its new limits, knows a spectacular population growth: 1.4 million inhabitants in 1968,4,4 million in 1997.
However, the position of Amman with regard to the West Bank occupied evolved much: Jordan takes birth certificate of a Palestinian power and, in July 1988, the Jordanian ones announce the “rupture of the legal and administrative bonds” with this territory annexed in 1949. The kingdom durably has as a Western border the Jordan, and its territorial base is reduced to the oriental party of the valley and to the steppe and desert plates of the East.
In 1994, Jordan signs a peace treaty with Israel. In 1999, the death of king Hussein, ratifies the come to power of its designated successor, prince Abdallah. After having designated in his turn his Hamza half-brother, crown prince to the throne hachémite and having named Abdel Raouf Rawabdeh with the direction of the government, king Abdallah, who committed himself continuing the policy implemented by his late father, must face a complex situation dominated by the blocking of the israélo-Palestinian peace process and the economic crisis which prevails in the country.
In addition, a litigation opposes it to Israel, which calls in question the trade agreements binding the two countries for the water supply. The Israeli government indeed called upon the low level of the rains and the important request, to consider the reduction of 60 % of the provisioning of Jordan.
At the end of the first six-month period 2000, Abdallah II accepts the resignation of the Prime Minister Abdel Raouf Rawabdeh, whose government, highly criticized by a majority of the deputies is also shown of nepotism, corruption and abuse public funds. It designates Ali Abu Ragheb to train the new cabinet and to conclude the reforms necessary to the economic recovery of the country.