Asheville Citizen Times · Asheville, North Carolina · 6 January 1954

CP-1954-001

Anti-British Influence At New High As Palestinians Take Lead In Jordan

Interpreting The News

By Wilton Wynn, Associated Press

Scan 760 × 930 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

“AMMAN, Jordan (AP)—Arabs still refer to Jordan as a ‘British puppet,’ but British influence in this desert kingdom has been declining steadily. Since the assassination of King Abdullah in 1951 British power has slipped steadily. A freely-elected Parliament replaced the monarchy as the country’s real power.

The rise of anti-British Palestinians in the government made the British position more difficult… Late in 1951, the Jordan constitution was altered to make the government responsible to Parliament instead of to the King. This change has given added power to the half million Palestinians added to Jordan after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

Palestinians now form a slight majority in the country. One-third of Jordan’s population are refugees who left homes in what is now Israel. The Palestinians hold Britain largely responsible for loss of their homes. Palestinian, and with it anti-British, influence has reached a new high in the current cabinet of Dr. Fawzi Mulki. Palestinians hold half the 10 portfolios.

Because of their aggressiveness and ability, these men dominate the cabinet. Led by Foreign Minister Hussein Khalidy, Minister of Economy Anwar Khatib, and Minister of Education Ahmed Toukan, this group can rally the nation on any given issue… When Israeli attackers killed 60 Arabs in Kibya village last Oct.

14, British officers in the Legion came under fire from the public. The British were accused of refusing to send aid to Kibya, even though the attack lasted eight hours. Mass demonstrations carried ‘down with Glubb’ banners and slogans — the first time demonstrators ever have attacked the general by name.”

Context added by this archive

An Associated Press explainer in an Asheville paper in January 1954, and it is one of the plainest pieces of political writing about Palestinians in this archive. Palestinians now form a slight majority in the country. They hold half the cabinet, and three of them are named with their portfolios. They hold Britain largely responsible for loss of their homes.

And the piece states as fact that Israeli attackers killed 60 Arabs at Kibya the previous October — the killing a reader of the Courier-Journal would be told two weeks later to produce the evidence for (CP-1954-004). Here it is a dependent clause in a wire story about British influence.

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