Jordanians have spent decades believing the Kingdom can absorb any storm with minimal loss. Whatever shifted around it, Jordan stayed intact, and that stability came to feel less like an achievement than a fact of nature.
اضافة اعلان
The belief was not baseless. Jordan avoided wars it did not need and never gambled with its own stability. Jordanians trusted the durability of the state's institutions, the competence of the security services and the armed forces, and the integrity of the borders. Above all they trusted the leadership's watchfulness over threats that no longer need to cross a frontier to reach the country's vital interests, unsettle its foundations and reshape its political options.
That picture now looks different. Events are moving fast enough to put uncomfortable scenarios in front of the Kingdom. Alongside the defensive fight Iran has imposed, which may well escalate, the West Bank has become strategically alarming.
The prospect of a political vacuum there is no longer remote, given the pressure on the refugee camps, the encroachment on rural and outlying areas, and the economic squeeze. Together these erode the territorial space a two-state solution requires and risk reducing it to a hypothetical demand, in the way the right of return already has been, with everything that would mean for Jordan.
Watching the West Bank closely has become necessary. That is not a wish to intervene or to take on any role there. Some are quick to read every Jordanian position that way, in service of familiar agendas. What Jordan wants is to see Palestinian rights secured and to spare itself the consequences if they are not.
A moment like this asks for more than transparency. It asks for responsible public language that sets out what the period requires, without inflating the danger or minimising it. That language should protect society from malicious rumour and deal firmly with those who spread it, particularly rumour aimed at draining national morale and eroding confidence in institutions while the country's security is being targeted. Mada'in argues this calls for handling such cases under a legal framework suited to conditions of war.
There is no reason to fear for Jordan. It is strong, and it has come through many kinds of crisis across its history. But a vigilant Jordan does not treat the unknown casually. Reassurance is a genuine asset, resting on a deep reserve of trust and certainty. It turns into a weakness the moment anyone concludes that geography alone will shield the state from a region in turmoil.
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Jamal Mada'in is a retired officer of the Jordanian Armed Forces. Source: Al-Ghad.
