Editing Hussein of Jordan (section)

===Tensions with Israel===
{{Main|Island of Peace massacre}}
[[File:William Cohen with King Hussein I of Jordan, 1997.jpg|thumb|left|Hussein during a press conference at the [[White House]] with American secretary of Defense [[William Cohen]], 2 April 1997]]

Hussein's support for Netanyahu soon backfired.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Israel's actions during the 1996 [[Qana massacre]] in Southern Lebanon, the Likud government's decision to build settlements in [[East Jerusalem]], and the events at the [[Temple Mount]] where clashes between Palestinian and Israeli police ensued after Israeli tunnel diggings around the Mount, generated an uproar of criticism for Netanyahu in the Arab World.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} On 9 March 1997 Hussein sent Netanyahu a three-page letter expressing his disappointment.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} The King lambasted Netanyahu, with the letter's opening sentence stating: "My distress is genuine and deep over the accumulating tragic actions which you have initiated at the head of the Government of Israel, making peace – the worthiest objective of my life – appear more and more like a distant elusive mirage."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/12/world/in-their-own-words-the-views-of-hussein-and-netanyahu.html|title=In Their Own Words: The Views of Hussein and Netanyahu|date=12 March 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=20 December 2019|quote=Prime Minister, My distress is genuine and deep over the accumulating tragic actions which you have initiated at the head of the Government of Israel, making peace – the worthiest objective of my life – appear more and more like a distant elusive mirage. I could remain aloof if the very lives of all Arabs and Israelis and their future were not fast sliding towards an abyss of bloodshed and disaster, brought about by fear and despair. I frankly cannot accept your repeated excuse of having to act the way you do under great duress and pressure. I cannot believe that the people of Israel seek bloodshed and disaster and oppose peace. Nor can I believe that the most constitutionally powerful Prime Minister in Israeli history would act on other than his total convictions. The saddest reality that has been dawning on me is that I do not find you by my side in working to fulfill God's will for the final reconciliation of all the descendants of the children of Abraham. Your course of actions seems bent on destroying all I believe in or have striven to achieve . . .}}</ref>

Four days later, on 13 March, a Jordanian soldier patrolling the borders between Jordan and Israel in the north near the [[Island of Peace]], [[Island of Peace massacre|killed seven Israeli schoolgirls]] and wounded six others.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} The King, who was on an official visit to Spain, returned home immediately.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} He travelled to the Israeli town of [[Beit Shemesh]] to offer his condolences to the grieving families of the Israeli children killed.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} He went in front of the families, telling them that the incident was "a crime that is a shame for all of us. I feel as if I have lost a child of my own. If there is any purpose in life it will be to make sure that all the children no longer suffer the way our generation did."<ref>{{cite news|title=With condolence visit to Israel, King Hussein spurs talks|author=Jerrold Kessel|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9703/16/israel.hussein/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=16 March 1997|access-date=22 February 2011}}</ref> His gesture was received very warmly in Israel, and Hussein sent the families $1{{nbsp}}million in total as compensation for the loss of life.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} The soldier was determined to be mentally unstable by a Jordanian military tribunal and was sentenced to 20{{nbsp}}years in prison, which he served entirely.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}}

Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups in Gaza and the West Bank surfaced.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Hussein's wife, [[Queen Noor of Jordan|Queen Noor]], later claimed her husband was having trouble sleeping: "Everything he had worked for all his life, every relationship he had painstakingly built on trust and respect, every dream of peace and prosperity he had had for Jordan's children, was turning into a nightmare. I really did not know how much more Hussein could take."{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}}

On 27 September 1997 eight [[Mossad]] agents entered Jordan using fake Canadian passports and attempted to assassinate Jordanian citizen [[Khaled Mashal]], head of the Palestinian group [[Hamas]].{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Hussein was preparing for a 30-year Hamas-Israel truce three days prior to the attempt, after Hamas had launched two attacks in Jerusalem.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Two Mossad agents followed Mashal to his office and injected poison into his ears, but they were caught by Mashal's bodyguard.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} The two agents were then held by the Jordanian police, while the six other agents hid in the Israeli embassy.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Furious, Hussein met with an Israeli delegate who attempted to explain the situation; the King said in a speech about the incident that he felt that somebody "had spat in his face."{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Jordanian authorities requested Netanyahu to provide an antidote to save Mashal's life, but Netanyahu refused to do so.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Jordan then threatened to storm the Israeli embassy and capture the rest of the Mossad team, but Israel argued that it would be against the [[Geneva Conventions]].{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Jordan replied that the Geneva Conventions "do not apply to terrorists", and a [[Joint Special Operations Command (Jordan)|special operations]] team headed by Hussein's son [[Abdullah II of Jordan|Abdullah]] was put in charge of the operation.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Hussein called American president Clinton and requested his intervention, threatening to annul the treaty if Israel did not provide the antidote.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Clinton later managed to get Israel's approval to reveal the name of the antidote, and complained about Netanyahu: "This man is impossible!"{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Khaled Mashal recovered, but Jordan's relations with Israel deteriorated and Israeli requests to contact Hussein were rebuffed.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} The Mossad operatives were released by Jordan after Israel agreed to release 23 Jordanian and 50 Palestinian prisoners including Sheikh [[Ahmed Yassin]].{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}}

Mounting opposition in Jordan to the peace treaty with Israel led Hussein to put greater restrictions on [[freedom of speech]].{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} Several dissidents were imprisoned including [[Laith Shubeilat]], a prominent Islamist. A few months into his imprisonment, the King personally gave Shubeilat, his fiercest critic, a ride home from the [[Correction centers in Jordan|Swaqa prison]].<ref name="ltnyt">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/10/world/king-hussein-gives-his-foe-ride-from-jail.html|title=King Hussein Gives His Foe Ride From Jail|agency=Reuters|work=The New York Times|date=10 November 1996|access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref> However, the crackdown led the opposition groups in Jordan to boycott the [[1997 Jordanian general election|1997 parliamentary elections]].{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}} In 1998 Jordan refused a secret request from Netanyahu to attack Iraq using Jordanian airspace after claiming Saddam held weapons of mass destruction.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=560–581}}