Jordan

The November 9 hotel bombings in Amman occurred while King Abdullah II was out of the country, just as was the case when al-Qaeda operatives in Aqaba fired missiles at USS Ashland in August. As he rushed back to Amman, it was clear that he alone was in charge and

King Abdullah II's latest domestic reform initiative for Jordan -- the National Agenda Committee -- will soon release a series of major political recommendations. These proposals will provide the Jordanian government with a detailed framework to guide the reform process in coming years. Background The National Agenda initiative was launched

After several months of negotiation between Jordanian and Israeli officials, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to release nine Jordanian prisoners. According to Jordan's foreign ministry, seven of the nine were released today. Although the Jordanian government welcomed this move as a gesture intended to strengthen bilateral relations, the

Jordan’s King Abdullah recently announced a major initiative for decentralizing political and fiscal authority in the kingdom by establishing a number of regional assemblies and empowering them with many of the responsibilities currently enjoyed by the parliament and central government. This effort should be viewed as one of the means

Though most famous for funding and organizing suicide bombings and beheadings in Iraq, Ahmad Fadil Nazal al-Khalaylah -- aka Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- has long assumed a leading role in terrorist operations in other countries, including his native Jordan. An East Banker and a member of the Bani Hassan tribe

Ten years on, the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan has weathered a number of storms, including the passing away of King Hussein, four years of Israeli-Palestinian armed struggle, and war in Iraq. Despite considerable domestic anti-peace pressure on the Jordanian regime (nurtured by Islamist elements) and strained Israeli-Jordanian political

Shows NATO member countries, partner countries, and Mediterranean Dialogue countries.

Egyptian officials and businessmen are visiting Israel this week to discuss the creation of Egyptian-Israeli qualified industrial zones (QIZs), which would give them free trade access to US markets. They seek to emulate Jordan's QIZ, the most successful example to date of US-Arab free trade. Indeed, these zones have given

Europe's increasing role in the Levant was highlighted recently by two high-profile events that may have a significant impact on future relations between the two regions. On December 1, Israelis and Palestinians launched a controversial unofficial peacemaking initiative in Geneva. On December 2-3, the Barcelona Process countries held their sixth