Summary
"This fascinating essay, written by King Hussein’s grandfather King Abdullah, appeared in the United States six months before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In the article, King Abdullah disputes the mistaken view that Arab opposition to Zionism (and later the state of Israel) is because of longstanding religious or ethnic hatred. He notes that Jews and Muslims enjoyed a long history of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, and that Jews have historically suffered far more at the hands of Christian Europe. Pointing to the tragedy of the holocaust that Jews suffered during World War II, the monarch asks why America and Europe are refusing to accept more than a token handful of Jewish immigrants and refugees. It is unfair, he argues, to make Palestine, which is innocent of anti-Semitism, pay for the crimes of Europe. King Abdullah also asks how Jews can claim a historic right to Palestine, when Arabs have been the overwhelming majority there for nearly 1300 uninterrupted years? The essay ends on an ominous note, warning of dire consequences if a peaceful solution cannot be found to protect the rights of the indigenous Arabs of Palestine."
Abdullah became emir of Transjordan in April 1921. He upheld his alliance with the British during World War II, and became king after Transjordan gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1946.[6] In 1949, Jordan annexed the West Bank,[6] which angered Arab countries including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which all defended the creation of a Palestinian state. (Wikipedia on Abdullah I)
As a former church goer and would be minister here is what I got out of Arabs and Jews. The Jews ended up with a nation called Israel. Palestinian Arabs were out in the cold. Somewhere along the way modern Christiandom wanted everyone to think that if Palestinians were good boys they could get theirs too. How? There's no land left for their nation. How in the hell is this ever going to work? It's totally impossible. I'll also make a bet that if America had a lot of Muslim influence in 1948 the Jews would not have got a nation. Arafat once said that fighting and winning a war over there depended upon who had the biggest god. He was smarter than many thought.
King Abdullah was a bit of an outlier. He was rather paternalistic toward Palestinian Jews before the establishment of Israel. If I recall he expected them to accept him as a kindly benign ruler.
Later Jordan took part in several of the wars between Arab states and Israel, but the Hashemites tended to be less confrontational or hostile toward Israel overall.
Jordan did have a huge Palestinian refugee issue to deal with thanks to the displacement. King Husayn sent the PLO packing to Lebanon which helped destabilize that multipolar country though Israel and Syria acting through proxies did a huge part of the damage over the years. Israel had Maronite allies as you probably know. That got really ugly!
Husayn tried to warn Israel via Meir before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war which Jordan for the most part sat out since they lost the West Bank in the Six Day war. Still too soon? They may have had a wink-wink tacit understanding with Israel that they would make a limited token effort during that war:
[haaretz.com]
Again I wouldn’t take the Hashemite stance toward Israel as generalizing for the sentiment of all Arabs or Arab states toward Israeli Jews in the past. Saddam Husayn wanted to goad Israel into striking back in Desert Storm, knowing that response might shatter part of the coalition the US had built.
Nowadays a common perceived enemy in Persian Shia Iran has brought some of the Sunni Arab states into a closer relationship with Israel. Realpoltik.