Members of the Jordanian royal family, in Amman in 2018. On the right, King Abdullah and Crown Prince Hussein.Handout
The calm in the kingdom of Jordan, an island of stability in the troubled Middle East, faltered this Saturday with the unusual arrest of at least one member of the royal family in an apparent coup attempt against King Abdullah II.
The state news agency Petra reported the arrest "for security reasons and threat to the stability of the country" of Sharif Hasan bin Zaid, a member of the Hashemite royalty;
Bassem Awadallah - former head of the Royal House, former adviser to the monarch and former Minister of Finance - and an unknown number of suspects.
At first, Arab sources included former Crown Prince Hamza bin Hussein, Abdullah's half-brother and son of the former Queen Noor, in the wave of arrests.
The Al Arabiya television channel also reported the capture of "a score of tribal chiefs close to Prince Hamza and with ties to abroad."
The Petra agency later denied the house arrest of the previous heir to the throne.
In a statement quoted by the Efe agency, the Armed Forces demanded that the former heir refrain from carrying out activities against "the security of Jordan."
Hamza was removed from the line of succession in 2004. King Abdullah subsequently appointed his eldest son, Prince Hussein, as heir to the Hashemite throne.
Having headed the internal Cabinet of the Royal Palace since 2007, with broad constitutional powers, Awadallah was the driving force behind the economic reforms undertaken in Jordan a decade ago.
The second most important detainee in the current operation then had to face the resistance of the clans of the old Jordanian political guard opposed to his reforms.
He was later appointed his country's special envoy in Saudi Arabia.
The Riyadh government was quick to express its "full support for King Abdullah to preserve security in Jordan."
The State Department also issued a note of "full support" for the monarch as a "key ally" in the Middle East.
The Jordanian intelligence services, which constitute a parallel State within the State, have exercised extensive legal prerogatives introduced at the beginning of the pandemic for a year.
The Palestinian origin of the current Queen Rania, passed down to her eldest son and heir to the throne, created a wedge in Jordanian society following the unexpected coronation of her husband, Abdullah, in 1999.
Half of the country's population is also of Palestinian origin, although the former Transjordans, of Bedouin roots, monopolize the power elite that controls the government, security and the economy.
An emerging Islamist social base votes for the Muslim Brotherhood, who after years of boycotting the institutions returned to Parliament in 2016 and recognized the role of King Abdullah as Jordan's unifying figure.
Abdullah already had to agree on his own succession to power with his uncle Hassan, former prince regent, and appoint his half-brother Hamza as crown prince two decades ago by royal decree.
Then a family pact was produced to respect the will of the recently deceased King Hussein.
Hamza was the favorite son of the late monarch and Queen Noor, his last wife.
