Editing History of Jordan (section)

===1948 War and annexation of the West Bank===
[[File:Jordan 1984-1988.png|150px|thumb|Jordan 1948–1967. The [[East Bank]] is the portion east of the Jordan river, the [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|West Bank]] is the part west of the river]]
{{further|1948 Arab–Israeli War|1949 Armistice Agreements|Jordanian annexation of the West Bank}}

Transjordan was one of the Arab states opposed to the partition of Palestine and creation of Israel in May 1948. It participated in the war between the Arab states and the newly founded State of Israel. Thousands of Palestinians fled the Arab-Israeli fighting to the West Bank and Jordan. The Armistice Agreements of 3 April 1949 left Jordan in control of the West Bank and provided that the armistice demarcation lines were without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|plan for the future government of Palestine]] which called for termination of the Mandate not later than 1 August 1948.

The works of [[Benny Morris]], [[Avi Shlaim]], [[Ilan Pappe]], Mary Wilson, [[Eugene Rogan]], and other historians outline a ''[[modus vivendi]]'' agreement between Abdullah and the Yishuv. Those works are taught in most Israeli university courses on the history, political science, and sociology of the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514063152/http://www.palestine-studies.org/enakba/debates/Morris,%20Refabricating%201948.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Institute for Palestine Studies|archive-date=May 14, 2013|website=Institute for Palestine Studies}}</ref> Archival materials reveal that the parties had negotiated the non-belligerent partition of Palestine between themselves, and that initially they had agreed to abide by the terms of the UN resolution. [[Glubb Pasha|John Baggot Glubb]], the commander of the Arab Legion, wrote that British Foreign Secretary Bevin had given the green light for the Arab Legion to occupy the territory allocated to the Arab state. The Prime Minister of Transjordan explained that Abdullah had received hundreds of petitions from Palestinian notables requesting protection upon the withdrawal of the British forces. Eugene Rogan says that those petitions, from nearly every town and village in Palestine, are preserved in ''The Hashemite Documents: The Papers of Abdullah bin al-Husayn, volume V: Palestine 1948'' (Amman 1995).<ref>See Chapter 5, Jordan and 1948, in "The war for Palestine: rewriting the history of 1948", By Eugene L. Rogan, and Avi Shlaim, Cambridge University Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-521-69934-7}}</ref>

After the mandate was terminated, the armed forces of Transjordan entered Palestine. The Security Council adopted a US-backed resolution that inquired about the number and disposition of Transjordan's armed forces in Palestine. The Foreign Minister of Transjordan replied in a telegram "that neither the UN nor US recognized Transjordan, although they both had been given the opportunity for more than two years. Yet the US had recognized the Jewish state immediately, although the factors for this recognition were lacking."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/aa99ba96c0a95d5985256db2006928bd?OpenDocument|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320140334/http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/aa99ba96c0a95d5985256db2006928bd?OpenDocument|url-status=dead|title=See CABLEGRAM DATED 18 MAY 1948 FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL ADDRESSED TO THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF TRANSJORDAN, AND REPLY THERETO DATED 20 MAY 1948, UN Document S/760 of 20 May 2003|archive-date=March 20, 2014}}</ref>

In explaining to the Security Council why Transjordan's armed forces had entered Palestine, Abdullah said: "we were compelled to enter Palestine to protect unarmed Arabs against [[Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war|massacres]] similar to those of [[Deir Yassin massacre|Deir Yassin]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/e2ab11675a195c3e85256a5700646474?OpenDocument|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112000751/http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/e2ab11675a195c3e85256a5700646474?OpenDocument|url-status=dead|title=See UN Document PAL/167, 16 May 1948 TRANSJORDAN NOTIFIES UN OF ARMED ENTRY INTO PALESTINE|archive-date=January 12, 2014}}</ref>

After capturing the [[West Bank]] during the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], Abdullah was proclaimed King of Palestine by the [[Jericho Conference]]. The following year, Jordan annexed the West Bank.

The United States extended ''de jure'' recognition to the government of Transjordan and the government of Israel on the same day, 31 January 1949.<ref>Foreign relations of the United States, 1949. The Near East, South Asia, and Africa Volume VI, Page 713</ref> Clea Bunch said that "President Truman crafted a balanced policy between Israel and its moderate Hashemite neighbours when he simultaneously extended formal recognition to the newly created state of Israel and the Kingdom of Transjordan. These two nations were inevitably linked in the President's mind as twin emergent states: one serving the needs of the refugee Jew, the other absorbing recently displaced Palestinian Arabs. In addition, Truman was aware of the private agreements that existed between Jewish Agency leaders and King Abdullah I of Jordan. Thus, it made perfect sense to Truman to favour both states with de jure recognition."<ref>Clea Lutz Bunch, "Balancing Acts: Jordan and the United States during the Johnson Administration," Canadian Journal of History 41.3 (2006)</ref>

In 1978, the U.S. State Department published a memorandum of conversation between Mr. [[Stuart W. Rockwell]] of the Office of African and Near Eastern Affairs and Abdel Monem Rifai, a Counselor of the Jordan Legation, on 5 June 1950. Mr. Rifai asked when the United States was going to recognize the union of Arab Palestine and Jordan. Mr. Rockwell explained the Department's position, stating that it was not the custom of the United States to issue formal statements of recognition every time a foreign country changed its territorial area. The union of Arab Palestine and Jordan had been brought about as a result of the will of the people and the US accepted the fact that Jordanian sovereignty had been extended to the new area. Mr. Rifai said he had not realized this and that he was very pleased to learn that the US did in fact recognize the union.<ref>Foreign relations of the United States, 1950. The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V (1950), page 921.</ref>

Jordan was admitted as a member state of the United Nations on 14 December 1955.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.un.org/en/members/ |title= Member States |publisher= United Nations |access-date= 2018-06-29 |archive-date= 2011-02-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110207190946/http://www.un.org/en/members/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

On 24 April 1950, Jordan formally annexed the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)<ref>{{cite journal | first = Richard | last = Cavendish | journal = [[History Today]] | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | date = April 2000 | url = http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/jordan-formally-annexes-west-bank | title = Jordan Formally Annexes the West Bank | access-date = 2012-04-09 | archive-date = 2018-02-21 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180221101402/http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/jordan-formally-annexes-west-bank | url-status = live }}</ref> declaring "complete unity between the two sides of the Jordan and their union in one state... at whose head reigns King Abdullah Ibn al Hussain".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.jcpa.org/art/knesset6.htm| title = Annexation of the West Bank by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan| access-date = 2012-04-09| archive-date = 2018-08-15| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180815171030/http://www.jcpa.org/art/knesset6.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> All West Bank residents were granted Jordanian citizenship. The December 1948 [[Jericho Conference]], a meeting of prominent Palestinian leaders and King Abdullah, voted in favor of annexation into what was then Transjordan.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1948v05p2.p1137&id=FRUS.FRUS1948v05p2&isize=M| title = FRUS, US State Department Report| access-date = 2013-10-18| archive-date = 2019-02-14| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190214233425/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1948v05p2.p1137&id=FRUS.FRUS1948v05p2&isize=M| url-status = live}}</ref>

Jordan's annexation was regarded as illegal and void by the [[Arab League]] and others. It was recognized by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan.<ref>Benvenisti, Eyal. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lcVOlb0wefwC&pg=PA108 The international law of occupation], Princeton University Press, 2004. p. 108. {{ISBN|0-691-12130-3}}. "This purported annexation was, however, widely regarded as illegal and void, by the Arab League and others, and was recognized only by Britain, Iraq, and Pakistan."</ref><ref name="DinsteinTabory1994">{{cite book| first1 =Yoram | last1 = Dinstein| first2 = Mala | last2 = Tabory|title=Israel Yearbook on Human Rights: 1993|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gRmNCr7-EXQC&pg=PA41|access-date=21 December 2010|date=1 September 1994|publisher= Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn= 978-0-7923-2581-9|page=41|quote=Israel considers Jordan's annexation of the West Bank, recognised only by Great Britain and Pakistan, to have been illegal.}}</ref><ref name= "School2005">{{cite book|  title= The George Washington international law review|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=a_q4AAAAIAAJ |access-date=21 December 2010 |year=2005|publisher=George Washington University Law School|page= 390|quote= Jordan's illegal occupation and Annexation of the West Bank}}</ref> The annexation of the West Bank more than doubled the population of Jordan.<ref>{{Citation | url= https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-61692149 | title=Jordan Formally Annexes the West Bank | last = Cavendish | first = Richard | work = History Today | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | date = April 2000 | via =}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref>  Both Irbid and Zarqa more than doubled their population from less than 10,000 each to more than, respectively, 23,000 and 28,000.<ref name= "embassy"/>