Jordan’s King Hussein received an enthusiastic welcome when he arrived in Israel this week on a trip meant to highlight the new spirit of cooperation between the two countries.
The streets of Tel Aviv were festooned with Israeli and Jordanian flags, and hundreds of Israelis lined the streets Wednesday to welcome the king on his first official visit to Tel Aviv.
Hussain made at least one secret trip in 1977, when the two countries were still technically at war, intelligence sources said.
Hussein said he hoped for peace “not only between our two countries and people, but hopefully for this entire region in the very nearest possible future” – a reference to the ongoing Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations.
Prime Minister Shimon Peres, also addressing the talks with Syria, was optimistic about chances for regional peace.
“By the end of the century, which is a matter of another four years, I do believe that the Middle East can reach a comprehensive, full peace,” Peres said during a welcoming ceremony at the Sdeh Dov airfield, located north of Tel Aviv.
In making the trip to Israel, Hussein had co-piloted a Jordanian army helicopter to the Israeli airfield.
From there, he and Peres drove together in a motorcade to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, where the Jordanian monarch visited two Jordanian soldiers who were being treated there.
Hussein also dedicated a trauma center at the hospital in the name of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabin died at the center after he was critically wounded by confessed assassin Yigal Amir after a Nov. 4 peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Hussein was greeted by Rabin’s widow, Leah Rabin, who presented him with a medallion commemorating the slain leader.
“Your presence amongst us is a living memorial to what you and Yitzhak built,” Leah Rabin said, referring to the historic October 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty signed by her late husband and the king.
Hussein’s visit was marked by intense security.
Some 6,000 police officers were on duty. Roads in the vicinity of the hospital were closed to traffic.
From Ichilov Hospitals, Hussein went to the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv for talks with Peres.
The two then traveled to Beit Gavriel, located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, to participate in a ceremony to honor Israeli Ambassador Fayez Tarawneh, the chief negotiators responsible for drafting the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.
Among those accompanying Hussein to Israel were Jordanian Prime Minister Zeid Bin Shaker and Foreign Minister Abdul Karim al-Kabariti, according to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
