Editing Hussein of Jordan (section)

==Legacy==
===Image===
{{quote box|quote=All what we hope for is that a day will come, when we have all gone, when people will say that this man has tried, and his family tried. This is all there is to seek in this world.| quoted = 1 | width  = 35% | align  = right |source=Quote by King Hussein a year before his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/views_life.html|title=King Hussein quotes|work=kinghussein.org|access-date=12 November 2018}}</ref>}}

Hussein's biographer [[Avi Shlaim]] has stated that the assassination of his grandfather [[Abdullah I of Jordan|King Abdullah{{nbsp}}I]] in Jerusalem was the most formative event in his life, as he had witnessed the event personally at the age of 15.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} Two years later, the 17-year-old schoolboy would become King.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} Hussein inherited the throne to a young Kingdom, whose neighbors questioned its legitimacy, along with the Jordanian-controlled West Bank.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} From an early age he had to shoulder a heavy responsibility.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} The Kingdom had few natural resources, and a large Palestinian refugee population.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He was able to gain his country considerable political weight on a global scale despite its limited potential.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} In 1980, an Israeli intelligence report described Hussein to be "a man trapped on a bridge burning at both ends, with crocodiles in the river beneath him."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/node/10170349|title=From the desert he rose|date=22 November 2007|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=4 June 2018}}</ref> Hussein was able to survive through four turbulent decades of the [[Arab-Israel conflict]] and the Cold War, successfully balancing pressures from [[Pan-Arabism|Arab nationalists]], [[Soviet Union]], [[Western countries]] and Israel.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} [[File:King Hussein inaugurating police station in Amman, 24 December 1956.png|thumb|left|Hussein inaugurating a police station in Amman with Prime Minister [[Suleiman Nabulsi]] to his right, 24 December 1956]]

Hussein considered the Palestinian issue to be the overriding national security issue, even after Jordan lost the West Bank in 1967 and after it renounced claims to it in 1988.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} Initially, Hussein attempted to unite both banks of the Jordan River as one people, but with the formation of the PLO in the 1960s, it became difficult to maintain such a policy.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He was relentless in pursuit of peace, viewing that the only way to solve the conflict was by peaceful means, excluding his decision to join the war in 1967.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} The decision cost him half his kingdom and his grandfather's legacy.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} After the war he emerged as an advocate for Palestinian statehood.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} After renouncing ties to the West Bank in 1988, he remained committed to solving the conflict.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} His 58 secret meetings held with Israeli representatives since 1963 culminated in the signing of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994, which he considered to be his "crowning achievement".{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}}

Hussein's policy of co-opting the opposition was his most revered.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He was the region's longest reigning leader, even though he was subject to dozens of assassination attempts and plots to overthrow him.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He was known to pardon political opponents and dissidents, including those who had attempted to assassinate him.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He entrusted some of them with senior posts in the government.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} On one occasion before his death, he gave his fiercest critic a ride home from prison after having ordered his release.<ref name="ltnyt"/> He was described as being a "[[benign dictatorship|benign authoritarian]]".<ref name="encoleg"/>[[File:Hussein 1950s.jpg|thumb|right|Hussein inaugurating the [[King Abdullah Canal|East Ghor Canal]] in 1961]]

During his 46-year-reign, Hussein, who was seen as a charismatic, courageous, and humble leader, became widely known among Jordanians as the "builder king".<ref name="encoleg"/> He turned the Kingdom from a backwater divided polity into a reasonably stable well-governed modern state.<ref name="legofhy"/> By 1999, 90% of Jordanians had been born during Hussein's reign.<ref name="encoleg">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/183839|title=King Hussein's legacy|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=4 September 2017|date=28 January 1999}}</ref> From the very start, Hussein concentrated on building an economic and industrial infrastructure to stimulate the economy and raise the [[standard of living]].<ref name="legofhy"/> During the 1960s, Jordan's main industries{{snd}}including phosphate, potash and cement{{snd}}were developed, and the very first network of highways was built throughout the kingdom.<ref name="legofhy"/> Social indicators reflect King Hussein's successes.<ref name="legofhy"/> Whereas in 1950 water, sanitation, and electricity were available to only 10% of Jordanians, at the end of his rule these had reached 99% of the population.<ref name="legofhy"/> In 1960 only 33% of Jordanians were literate; by 1996 this number had climbed to 85.5%.<ref name="legofhy"/> In 1961 the average Jordanian consumed a daily intake of 2,198 calories; by 1992 this figure had increased by 37.5% to reach 3,022 calories.<ref name="legofhy"/> UNICEF statistics show that between 1981 and 1991, Jordan had achieved the world's fastest annual rate of decline in infant mortality{{snd}}from 70 deaths per 1,000 births in 1981 to 37 per 1,000 in 1991, a drop of over 47%.<ref name="legofhy">{{cite web|url=http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public/English.aspx?lang=2&Site_ID=1&Page_ID=496|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20110711232226/http://petra.gov.jo/Public/English.aspx?lang=2&Site_ID=1&Page_ID=496|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 July 2011|title=King Hussein Bin Talal 1935–1999|agency=Petra News Agency|access-date=4 September 2017|date=1 January 2010}}</ref>

Hussein established the Al-Amal medical center in 1997, a clinic specializing in cancer treatment in Jordan.<ref name="JT1K"/> Renamed in 2002 to the [[King Hussein Cancer Center]] in honor of the late King, the center is a leading medical facility in the region, treating around 4,000 patients each year.<ref name="JT1K">{{cite web|url=http://jordantimes.com/news/local/expansion-khcc-put-centre-regional-map-%E2%80%94-director|title=Expansion of KHCC to put centre on regional map – director|work=The Jordan Times|access-date=13 September 2017|date=19 June 2017}}</ref>

===Criticism===
[[File:King Hussein of Jordan dancing dabkeh with bedouins, 1960.jpg|thumb|right|Hussein dancing the [[dabkeh]] with [[Bedouins]] in the Jordanian [[Badia (region)|Badia]], 1960]]

The King disliked paperwork, and had no solid view for the economy.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He was dubbed the "fundraiser-in-chief": throughout his reign he managed to obtain foreign aid from different sources, leaving a legacy of a foreign aid-dependent Jordan.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} He obtained British aid in the early 1950s, American aid from 1957 onwards, Gulf aid in the 1960s and 1970s, Arab League and Iraqi aid in the early 1980s, and, after formalizing peace with Israel, American aid in the 1990s.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}}

He was also seen as too lenient toward some ministers who were alleged to be corrupt.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=473}} After establishing peace with Israel in 1994 he faced mounting opposition to the deal, with opponents concentrating their criticism on him.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=609–616}} The King reacted by introducing restrictions on freedom of speech, and changing the parliamentary electoral law into the one-man, one-vote system in a bid to increase representation of independent regime loyalists and tribal groups at the expense of Islamist and partisan candidates.<ref name="encoleg"/> The moves impeded Jordan's path towards democracy that had started in 1956 and resumed in 1989.<ref name="encoleg"/>

In 1977, [[Bob Woodward]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that King Hussein received funds from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] for 20 years. This money was used by the King to establish an intelligence service but was nevertheless criticized for being handled away from the government's supervision.{{sfn|Shlaim|2009|p=151}}