AMMAN, Jordan -- Hussein Ibn Talal, king of Jordan, longest-serving ruler in the world.
He has survived war against Israel, the occasional enmity of neighboring Syria and Iraq, about a dozen assassination attempts and a bloody civil war against the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Once ignored and stripped of influence, the king has come to be regarded as the elder statesman of the Middle East, a voice of sanity in a world of hateful rhetoric, a moderate among radicals, a binding force for his own diverse community of tribesmen and Palestinians.
Now he has cancer -- again -- and the question is, "What if?"
"When I heard the king was sick, I was very, very upset," said Zaha Sbaihi, a clerk in an Amman clothing store. "Because as long as the king is here, the country is secure and stable. When it comes to the king, we all have the same feeling."
But Hussein's influence extends well beyond the boundaries of Jordan, a country of deep wadis and terraced mountains carved out by the British after World War I to reward the king's grandfather, King Abdullah, for his loyalty in a region of fierce desert rivals.
Hussein ascended to the throne in 1952, not yet 17 years old, only a year after Abdullah was assassinated before his eyes, outside the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
In a region known for its ruthless dictators, the 62-year-old king has proved to be both a popular monarch and a world-class diplomat. He is a crucial ally of the United States and Israel, to whom he lost half his kingdom in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Hussein has become the most vocal Arab proponent of peace with the Jewish state. Even though the peace he struck with Israel in 1994 hasn't produced the benefits expected, the king continues to speak out forcefully and intervene on behalf of peace.
Washington relies on the king. The United States' interest in Jordan is evident in the military and financial aid given to the Hashemite Kingdom -- some $225 million this year alone, according to U.S. officials.
When news of the king's recent cancer diagnosis reached the White House, President Clinton telephoned Hussein at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and offered the services of his physician.
White House spokesman Mike McCurry explained that the president valued the king's "courageous and brave actions" in support of the peace process -- a process now in deep crisis.
The president regards the king as a leader who could "affect the outcome of deliberations that could lead to future peace agreements," McCurry said.
The king, who recovered from a bout of kidney cancer in 1992, sought to assure Jordanians -- and perhaps the world -- last week that the prospects for a speedy recovery were high. In a televised address to the nation from the Mayo Clinic, Hussein told his subjects that the cancer was in the early stages and that he was responding well to chemotherapy.
The treatments could take months.
George Naber was getting his hair cut at the Salon Aliya when the face of the king appeared on an overhead television. The king, a commanding figure despite his short stature, looked tired. But he spoke confidently.
"We will get over this illness soon," he said, in his soothing baritone.
As far as Naber was concerned, the sooner the better. Although Naber admires the king's brother and designated successor, Crown Prince Hassan, the 53-year-old merchant said, "I want him [Hussein] to come home safe."
"It's not the time for King Hussein to be sick," said Naber, who was just a boy when Hussein became king. "The situation in the country he's the only one who can control it."
Universal appeal
Auto parts salesman, former prime minister, Palestinian shopkeeper or Jordanian political scientist, all interviewed last week, noted the king's influence in the region and his ability to bring together the nation's disparate political forces.
And Jordan has problems that range from the state of the Middle East peace process to the nation's economy, both in serious trouble.
The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians -- a personal interest of the king and thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan -- is near collapse.
The Israelis consider Hussein a sincere friend and needed ally -- commentators and the government encouraged Israelis last week to pray for the king's recovery. But Hussein's efforts to prod Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cede more land to the Palestinians have been futile.
Jordan has severe economic troubles. More than 20 percent of the kingdom's 4.4 million people -- many of them university graduates -- are out of work. The country's growth rate has declined to about 1 percent. Its foreign debt is in the billions and among the highest per capita in the world, according to analysts.
Jordan, a country with little water and few natural resources, has been cut off from its key trading partner, Iraq, since the Persian Gulf war of 1991. And the prosperity expected to follow Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel has not materialized.
Democratic reforms and a liberalization of the political system have limped along. The government has cracked down on press freedoms and street demonstrations. And recently, the drinking water in the nation's capital turned sour.
Reform effort derailed
In recent months, critics of Hussein's government have been pressing the king to make the changes necessary to attack the country's economic woes. Islamists teamed up with reformers; former military men and one-time government leaders also joined in the pressure.
His admission to the Mayo Clinic has derailed the campaign for a new government.
"There is no real decision-making in this country except the king. That is the reason we need him here," said Taher el Masri, a former prime minister and a proponent of greater democratic reforms.
"The No. 1 tool he [Hussein] used to develop his control of the country was his personal charisma," said Radwan Abdullah, a political analyst and member of an influential Jordanian clan in the north.
"The man effectively is Jordan; his health will affect the future of the country very decisively. There are no rivals to the king."
Hussein acknowledges mortality but does not readily accept it.
"There is life, and there is an end to life; this is the way with everyone. But rest assured, I am not over and done with," he said.
Jordanians may be upset about government policies, the depressed state of the economy or the faltering peace process, but their enmity lies not with the head of state.
Jamil Ahmad arrived in Jordan in 1948, one of the thousands of Palestinian refugees displaced during the first Arab-Israeli war.
"Jordan in the '50s was nothing," said Ahmad, sitting in the toy store he owns near Amman's Islamic hospital. "We used to hunt in this area. Now, the streets, the jobs, the electricity, the water it's not easy to make a country like this. There isn't an Arab leader who did for his country what our king did for us."
"All countries have problems," added Mohammed el Hamshim, a 23-year-old barber. "He's the most capable person to solve problems and disputes between Arabs."
In Jordan, political and cultural rivalries reign. The Jordanian family clans in the north and central part of the country, the Bedouin tribes in the south and the Palestinians in the metropolitan areas constitute the mix here.
As king, Hussein has been able to bridge these cultural divides. Today, Palestinians account for 70 percent of the population.
Jordan was the only country to grant citizenship to the Palestinian refugees who fled the 1948 war. Many have prospered under the king's reign; some of the wealthiest men in Jordan are Palestinian.
Analysts said Palestinians support the king -- and would support his brother -- because they want to maintain their place and influence in Jordanian society.
Brother awaits throne
Hussein long ago designated his 51-year-old brother to succeed him. Crown Prince Hassan, an Oxford-educated Orientalist who speaks Hebrew, has been in training for 36 years, at home and abroad.
While considered more methodical and more bookish than the king, the polo-playing prince has proven popular among the people. He is a good campaigner, a proponent of greater liberalization, a player in the Middle East peace process.
But he lacks his brother's charm. The author of several books, Hassan is a student of economics and considered to be better equipped to deal with the country's economic woes. "The king's eyes glaze over when you talk about economic issues," said a Western diplomat who has observed Hussein's reign for more than a decade.
"The crown prince is not going to get a free ride on a lot of issues that the king has," the diplomat added.
"But there is a structure in place, and a lot of people have bought into it which is the Hashemite Kingdom."
Pub Date: 8/02/98