Ahmed Shukairy, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is recruiting and training Arab refugees for war against Israel, has called for the destruction of the present regime in Jordan, according to a Beirut dispatch received here today by The Times of London. Shukairy has also called on members of the Jordanian Cabinet to resign.
Shukairy’s open call for the unseating of the Jordanian Government, headed by King Hussein, was a response to the King’s announcement of a week ago that he would ban the PLO from all activities in his kingdom, and would forbid Arab refugees to join the PLO. King Hussein had, at the same time, proposed that all Arab refugees be absorbed for integration in the countries and areas where they are now maintained — Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The dispatch reported that King Hussein has widened his breach with the pro-Nasser forces in the region. His government issued an order today that Syrians wishing to enter Jordan must hereafter present passports. Until now, Syrians could enter Jordan by presenting Syrian identity cards only. As to Shukairy’s call for a revolt against the King, official sources in Jordan said it was “unworthy of comment.”
Another Jordanian development today, which was seen as connected with King Hussein’s quarrel with the Palestine Liberation Organization, was the re-emergence in Amman of Haj Amin Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The latter has been anti-Jewish since World War II, when, among other moves, he went to Berlin to confer with Hitler. Amman announced today that the dormant “Arab Higher Committee” has established offices in the Jordanian capital, headed by the ex-Grand Mufti, in an apparent move to split the Palestine Arab refugees and win them away from Shukairy.
A mass meeting of about 1,000 persons in Amman was also reported by The Times today to have cheered speakers who denounced Shukairy for his announcement about sending members of the PLO for training in Communist China as guerrillas who would prepare for war against Israel by joining anti-United States forces in South Viet Nam.
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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.
