Lion of Jordan: A Review

This is a review of Avi Shlaim’s Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace. Allen Lane. 2007.

Many volumes on the lives of Israeli and Palestinian politicians, and their involvement in the peace process, have been published. However, there has been too little focus on Arab rulers, leaders in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia – and their roles when it comes to Israel and Palestine.

Enter Avi Shlaim, an Israeli professor of International Relations at Oxford University. Schleim aims to provide an account of King Hussein’s involvement in the quest for peace in one of the most volatile regions in the world. Shlaim is further interested in challenging the conventional view that Israel has long been a victim of Arab aggression – both militarily and diplomatically.

Shlaim’s book stands out due to its use of primary sources; Shlaim interviewed the late Jordanian king in 1996. The interview became the eventual foundation of the book. In contrast with left-wing historians such as Benny Morris, Shlaim brings more personal insight into King Hussein’s views on Israel, Arafat, and Palestinian nationalism. In addition, Shlaim’s interviews with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin create a vivid image of how Israeli leaders viewed the late King.

The book urges the reader to consider who King Hussein really was: a hero (as he is commonly perceived in the West)? Or a puppet? Did King Hussein really want peace for Palestinians, or were personal gains his main aim in the conflict? Considering Jordan’s reliance on foreign aid, saying “yes” to the Western-backed Jewish state next door would appear to have been an easy choice for King Hussein – Shlaim suggests. Shlaim further challenges readers to weigh the cost of making a permanent peace deal with Israel at the expense of freedom of speech and democracy.

Shlaim has succeeded in crafting a largely objective narrative on the life of King Hussein. And it is Shlaim’s belief that this particular ruler could have helped create peace in his lifetime, if the other powers had paid him more genuine attention – though Shlaim is much less charitable when it comes to what he believes to be King Hussein’s failure at modernizing Jordan, and granting more civil and political rights to its citizens.