History of the Jews in Jordan

The history of the Jews in Jordan can be traced back to Biblical times when much of the geography now in Jordan was part of the history of the Jews in the Land of Israel.

Israelite tribes

According to the Hebrew Bible three of the Israelites' ancient tribes lived on the territory that is today known as (Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress) |title= "Terra Sancta sive Palæstina exhibens...": English Translation: "The Holy Land or Palestine Showing not only the Old Kingdoms of Judea and Israel but also the 12 Tribes Distinctly, Confirming their Locations Diversely in their Ancient Condition and Doing So as the Holy Scriptures Indicate" |author=Lotter, Tobias Conrad, 1717-1777]

A nation related to the Jews, the Edomites or Idumaeans resided in the geographic area or present-day southern Jordan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Following the restoration of Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans, the land of Edom was annexed to the Jewish kingdom known as Iudaea Province. Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time around 163 BC. [Josephus, "Ant." xii. 8, §§ 1, 6] The Edomites were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 BC), who forced them to observe Jewish rites and laws. [ib. xiii. 9, § 1; xiv. 4, § 4] They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation.
[
Iudaea Province on both sides of the Jordan River in the 1st century.] The Hasmonean official Antipater the Idumaean was of Edomite origin. He was the progenitor of the Herodian Dynasty that ruled Judea after the Roman conquest. Under Herod the Great Idumaea was ruled for him by a series of governors, among whom were his brother Joseph ben Antipater and his brother-in-law Costobarus.

Immediately before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, 20,000 Idumaeans, under the leadership of John, Simeon, Phinehas, and Jacob, appeared before Jerusalem to fight in behalf of the Zealots who were besieged in the Second Temple. [Josephus, "Jewish Wars" iv. 4, § 5]

After the Jewish-Roman wars the Idumaean people are no longer mentioned in history, though the geographical region of "Idumaea" is still referred to at the time of St. Jerome.

Roman era

Roman rule in the region began in 63 BCE, when the general Pompey declared Judea a Roman protectorate. Over the years, the amount of Roman power over the Judean kingdom increased. Among the voices of opposition were John the Baptist, whose severed head was allegedly presented at the fortress of Machaerus to Herod. In 66 CE, the forces behind the First Jewish Revolt took control of Machaerus, and held it until 72 CE, when a siege ensured the defeat of the local Jewish forces.

After the end of the last attempts at Jewish independence and the destruction of Judea, the Romans joined the province of Judea (which already included Samaria) together with Galilee to form a new province, called by the familiar name of Syria Palaestina. [http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337 Lehmann, Clayton Miles (May-September 1998). Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy] Following Roman conquest, the lands surrounding both banks of the Jordan River with its Jewish inhabitants came under the control and decrees of subsequent empires.

Over the centuries, the Jewish population within present-day Jordan gradually declined, until none were left.

Ottoman rule

Under Ottoman rule (1516 - 1917 CE) the name "Palestine" disappeared as the official name of an administrative unit, as the Turks often called their (sub)provinces after the capital. Since its 1516 incorporation in the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the "vilayet" (province) of Damascus-Syria until 1660, next of the "vilayet" of Saida (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7 March 1799 - July 1799 French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea. During the siege of Acre in 1799, Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring a Jewish state in Palestine. On 10 May 1832 it was one of the Turkish provinces annexed by Muhammad Ali's shortly imperialistic Egypt (nominally still Ottoman), but in November 1840 direct Ottoman rule was restored.

British Empire

The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 endorsed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and at the time both sides of the Jordan River were included in the British Mandate of Palestine awarded to Britain by the League of Nations. Prior to the Treaty of Versailles, the World Zionist Organization submitted a map of the proposed Jewish state that included the eastern bank of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, with the Hejaz Railway serving as the eastern border of the Jewish state, with the remainder to be an independent Arab state. According to the document:

"The fertile plains east of the Jordan, since the earliest Biblical limes, have been linked economically and politically with the land west of the Jordan The country which is now very sparsely populated, in Roman times supported a great population. It could now serve admirably for colonisation on a large scale. A just regard for the economic needs of Palestine and Arabia demands that free access to the Hedjaz Railway throughout its length be accorded both Governments." [Statement of the Zionist Organization Regarding PalestinePresented to the Paris Peace Conference (with proposed map of Zionist borders)February 3, 1919. Middle East Web http://www.mideastweb.org/zionistborders.htm]

In 1921, the Churchill White Paper split the British-ruled mandate into the smaller British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan. The border between these two new territories was delineated by the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and the valley of Arabah.

Jews and Jordanian law

There has been conflicting information on this issue, but according to the most recent sources, Jews are allowed to own property and conduct business in Jordan, even if they cannot become citizens.

Alan Dershowitz, a pro-Israel pundit, claimed in 2003 that Jordan had a law explicitly prohibiting any Jew from becoming a citizen. [cite web |author=Alan Dershowitz |title= "The Case Against Jordan" (2003)|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1003/dershowitz_2003_10_15.php3] and that "In Jordan, no Jew can be a citizen or own land." [cite web |author=Alan Dershowitz |title= "The World According to Jimmy Carter"|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/the-world-according-to-ji_b_34702.html] Jordan's laws against Jewish residence has been criticized by former Israeli prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu. [cite book |author= Benjamin Natanyahu |title= "A Durable Peace: Israel and its Place Among the Nations" (2000)|publisher = Warner Books|id= ISBN 0446523062]

However, a US Department of State International Religious Freedom Report 2006 on Jordan states that: "The Government recognizes Judaism as a religion; however there are reportedly no Jordanian citizens who are Jewish. The Government does not impose restrictions on Jews, and they are permitted to own property and conduct business in the country." . [cite web |author=United States Department of State |title= "Jordan :International Religious Freedom Report 2006"|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71424.htm]

Jordan and Israel

Following the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine of 1947, Jordan was one of the Arab countries that attacked the new Jewish state of Israel. It gained control of the West Bank, and expelled its remaining Jewish population. Jordan lost the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day war, but did not relinquish its claim to the West Bank until 1988. Jordan did not join Syria and Egypt in attacking Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Jordan eventually signed the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace in 1994, normalizing relations between the two countries.

Trade and tourism

Jordan has welcomed a number of Israeli companies to open plants in Jordan. Israeli tourists visit Jordan as well as Jewish citizens of other countries. Jordan has no laws barring Jews from its territory as in the case of Saudi Arabia. In the year following the 1994 Israel-Jordan treaty, some 60,000 to 80,000 Israeli tourists had visited Jordan. Expectations of closer relations between the countries led to a proposal to open a kosher restaurant in Amman. With a loss of Arab clientele, failure to secure kosher certification, and lack of interest among tourists, the enterprise failed. [Youssef Ibrahim M. "Amman Journal; Kosher in Jordan, an Idea Whose Time It Wasn't" New York Times 9/14/1995]

Following the Second Intifada (2000- present), Israeli tourism to Jordan declined greatly, as a result of anti-Israeli agitation among a wide segment of the population. In August 2008, Jordanian border officials turned back a group of Israeli tourists who were carrying Jewish religious items. According to the guards, the items posed a "security risk," even if used within the privacy of a hotel, and could not be brought into the country. In response, the tour group chose not to enter Jordan. [Wagner, Matthew "Jordan bars Jews with religious items" Jerusalem Post Aug. 14, 2008]

Jews in the Arabian Peninsula

*History of the Jews in Arabia (disambiguation)
*History of the Jews in Iraq
*History of the Jews in Jordan
*History of the Jews in Bahrain
*History of the Jews in Kuwait
*History of the Jews in Oman
*History of the Jews in Qatar
*History of the Jews in Saudi Arabia
*History of the Jews in the United Arab Emirates
*Yemenite Jews

ee also

*Abrahamic religion
*Arab Jews
*Arab states of the Persian Gulf
*Babylonian captivity
*History of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula
*History of the Jews under Muslim rule
*Islam and antisemitism
*Jewish exodus from Arab lands
*Jews outside Europe under Nazi occupation
*Judaism and Islam
*List of Jews from the Arab World
*Mizrahi Jews

References