After the Six-Day War

Jordan's political dilemma was dramatically highlighted by its disastrous participation in the Six-Day War of June 1967. By May 28, King Hussein had decided that war with Israel was imminent and that Jordan must take part in it. So, despite his conviction that Israel possessed superior power and that Nasser was deliberately provoking hostilities, it was Hussein himself who, on May 30, took the initiative in contacting the Egyptian president and bringing Jordan into a tripartite alliance with Egypt and Syria. Zayd al-Rifa'i, the king's secretary at the time, described Hussein's motives as follows: "[His] desire to meet with Nasser may seem strange when one considers the insults and abuse which Radio Cairo had been hurling at the Hashimite throne for the past year; nonetheless, it would have been impossible for us to justify our remaining aloof from so momentous a matter which engaged the entire Arab world." ⁴¹