Jordan:
King Hassan died in January, 1999, leaving his son the new King Abdullah in charge of the country. He is quickly gaining a reputation for going around in disguise to see how ordinary people live. He was last noticed at a hospital, spying on the service. Unfortunately, he had to report that he wasn't very pleased by what he saw.
Jordan is a key player in Middle East peace negotiations, and there are 1.7 million Palestinians living in Jordan. However, as far as middle eastern countries go, Jordan is quite stable, wedged as it is between Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria. Most people in Jordan are Muslim, but they are not fanatical. Women have relative freedom, and it's only among the working class, uneducated people that ancient traditions such as killing daughters or sisters for their loss of virginity are still practiced. Jordanians are, in fact, relatively sophisticated, and their country is a notch up on the development ladder.
Tourists go to Jordan for the beaches and scuba diving along the 16-mile coastline of the Gulf of Aqabah, and for historical sites such as the ancient city of Petra, Mount Nebo, and desert castles built by the Ummayad dynasty in the seventh century.
This page last updated January 21, 2000.