Editing Emirate of Transjordan (section)

==Establishment of the kingdom==
[[File:Agreement between His Majesty and the Amir of Trans- Jordan, Signed at Jerusalem, 20th February, 1928, cmd 3488.pdf|thumb|150px|Agreement between His Majesty and the Amir of Trans- Jordan, signed at Jerusalem, 20 February 1928, cmd. 3488]]
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Transfer of authority to an Arab government took place gradually in Transjordan, starting with Abdullah's appointment as Emir of Transjordan on 1 April 1921, and the formation of his first government on 11 April 1921.{{efn|Alon writes: "Abdullah accepted Churchill's offer and returned to Amman to organise his new rule. He dissolved the local governments formed by the British and established three administrative provinces (liwa’): cAjlun, Balqa’ and Karak. On 11 April 1921 he formed his first government. The newly appointed central administration was mainly staffed by Arab nationalist exiles. The first government was composed of four Syrians, a Palestinian, a Hijazi and only one native Transjordanian. The British offered financial assistance, administrative guidance and military support from Palestine upon request and maintained a watchful position. The sole organised and effective military force at hand was a Hijazi household army of some 200 men under Hashemite command. Peake's Reserve Force was still under construction and dysfunctional. (pg 40); From early 1922 until the autumn of 1923 the country enjoyed a period of stability during which the central administration succeeded in asserting its authority over the settled population. A change of personalities, resulting in more sympathetic British Representatives, Abdullah's recognition of his precarious situation, and an improved attitude of the Palestine government towards the independent administration of the country, contributed to the stabilisation of Transjordan and the subjugation of the settled tribes to the government's authority. More importantly, the resurrection of the Reserve Force, later renamed the Arab Legion, allowed for this success. (pg 49); Thus, in the summer of 1922, the government managed to gain the submission of the settled and semi-settled tribes. Peake and Philby reported on the satisfactory collection of taxes and good public order.45 Macan Abu Nowar asserts that, as early as August 1922, Abdullah could already point to several achievements in the process of state-building. His government maintained law and order, improved tax-collection, opened new schools and clinics, built roads, established telegraph and post office services and created sharci and civil courts. (pg 50)"{{sfn|Eilon|Alon|2007|p=40, 49, 50}}}} The independent administration was recognised in a statement made public (the statement had been agreed in October 1922 following the approval of the revised Mandate on 16 September 1922 with publication made conditional on completion of a probationary period) in Amman on 25 May 1923: "Subject to the approval of the League of Nations, His Britannic Majesty will recognise the existence of an independent Government in Trans-jordan under the rule of His Highness the Amir Abdullah, provided that such Government is constitutional and places His Britannic Majesty in a position to fulfil his international obligations in respect of the territory by means of an Agreement to be concluded with His Highness"{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=75|ps=: Wilson cites Political report for Palestine and Transjordan, May 1923, FO 371/8998}}<ref>[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A87D21F4E57F2D0F052565E8004BACE0 Report by His Britannic Majesty's Government on the Administration Under Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan for the Year 1924.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508142957/https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/A87D21F4E57F2D0F052565E8004BACE0 |date=8 May 2019 }}: "On the 25th April 1923, at Amman, the High Commissioner announced that, subject to the approval of the League of Nations, His Majesty's Government would recognise the existence of an independent Government in Transjordan under the rule of His Highness the Amir Abdulla, provided that such Government was constitutional and placed His Britannic Majesty's Government in a position to fulfil its international obligations in respect of the territory by means of an agreement to be concluded between the two Governments. The agreement has not yet been concluded."</ref>{{efn|Gubser wrote: "During World War I, Transjordan (as it was then called) was the scene of most of the fighting of the great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule. Assisted by the British and the famous Lawrence of Arabia (T. E. Lawrence), Sharif Hussein of Mecca led this successful revolt, which contributed to the Ottoman defeat in World War I and to the eventual establishment of the various Arab states. Jordan originally fell under the rule of King Faisal, son of Sharif Hussein and the principal military leader of the Arab Revolt. Jordanians, along with their Arab brothers from other regions, served in the new Arab government and sat in its parliament. After King Faisal was forced from the throne in July 1920 by the French military, the British high commissioner of Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel, went to the town of Salt in Transjordan and declared that the territory, as had been secretly agreed by the British and French in the Sykes-Picot Agreement during World War I, was part of the British Mandatory Palestine. Amir (Prince) Abdullah, a younger son of Sharif Hussein, arrived in Jordan in the fall of 1920 with the intent of regaining Damascus for his Hashemite family. Because he had gained a following, the British decided to recognise his leadership in that territory and provide him with a subsidy in exchange for his not pursuing his original Damascus intentions. This arrangement was confirmed in a 27 March 1921, meeting between then colonial secretary, Winston Churchill, and Amir Abdullah. In addition, Jordan was officially removed from Britain's Palestine mandate and given a mandate status of its own. Between the two world wars, Amir Abdullah, with considerable assistance from Britain, established Hashemite authority in Jordan, basing his rule in the new capital of Amman."{{sfn|Gubser|1991|p=45–46}}}}

During the eleventh session of the [[League of Nations]]' [[Permanent Mandates Commission]] in 1927, [[John Evelyn Shuckburgh|Sir John E. Shuckburgh]] summarised the status of Transjordan:
<blockquote>It is not part of Palestine but it is part of the area administered by the British Government under the authority of the Palestine Mandate. The special arrangements there really go back to the old controversy about our war time pledges to the Arabs which I have no wish to revive. The point is that on our own interpretation of those pledges the country East of the Jordan – though not the country West of the Jordan – falls within the area in respect of which we promised during the war to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs. Transjordan is in a wholly different position from Palestine and it was considered necessary that special arrangements should be made there<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGCqyWWR5csC&q=%22it+is+not+part+of+palestine%2C+but+it+is+part+of+the+area+administered+by+the+british%22&pg=PA265 |title=The Colonial Service |first=Anton |last=Bertram |date=16 June 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107600669 |via=Google Books |access-date=31 October 2020 |archive-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112201453/https://books.google.com/books?id=rGCqyWWR5csC&q=%22it+is+not+part+of+palestine,+but+it+is+part+of+the+area+administered+by+the+british%22&pg=PA265 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

===1928 treaty===
Transfer of most administrative functions occurred in 1928, including the creation of the post of High Commissioner for Transjordan.{{efn|Article 1 of the February 1928 agreement stated: "His Highness the Amir agrees that His Britannic Majesty shall be represented in Trans-Jordan by a British Resident acting on behalf of the High Commissioner for Trans-Jordan."<ref>Agreement between his Britannic Majesty and His Highness the Amir of Trans-Jordan, February 1928</ref>}} The status of the mandate was not altered by the agreement between the United Kingdom and the Emirate concluded on 20 February 1928.<ref>See League of Nations, Official Journal, 1928, p. 1574</ref> It recognised the existence of an independent government in Transjordan and defined and limited its powers. The ratifications were exchanged on 31 October 1929."{{efn|Bentwich wrote: "An agreement was made in February 1928, between His Britannic Majesty and the Emir of Transjordan, varying in important respects the execution of the Mandate for Transjordan which was conferred with the Mandate for Palestine in 1922. There was, indeed, no separate Mandate for Transjordan; but by a resolution of the Council of the League of Nations, passed in September 1922, at the suggestion of the British Government, certain provisions of the Mandate for Palestine were, in accordance with Article 25 of that Mandate, declared not applicable in the territory lying east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. It was further provided in the application of the Mandate to Transjordan that the action which in Palestine is taken by the Administration of Palestine will be taken by the Administration of Transjordan under the general supervision of the Mandatory. A declaration by the British Government was approved to the effect that His Majesty's Government accepts full responsibility as Mandatory for Transjordan, and undertakes that such provision as may be made for the administration of that territory shall be in no way inconsistent with those provisions of the Mandate which are not declared inapplicable by the resolution."{{sfn|Bentwich|1929|p=212-213}}}}<ref>See 1919 Foreign Relations, vol. XIII, Paris Peace Conference (1947), p. 100</ref>

Transjordan remained under British control until the first-Transjordanian treaty was concluded in 1928. Transjordan became nominally independent, although the British still maintained a military presence and control of foreign affairs and retained some financial control over the Emirate. This failed to respond to Transjordanian demands for a fully sovereign and independent state, a failure that led to widespread disaffection with the treaty among Transjordanians, prompting them to seek a national conference (25 July 1928), the first of its kind, to examine the articles of the treaty and adopt a plan of political action.<ref name="AV">Avi Shlaim, Lion of Jordan (2007) p 17.</ref>

According to the [[U.S. State Department]] ''Digest of International Law'', the status of the mandate was not altered by the agreement between the United Kingdom and the Emirate concluded on 20 February 1928<ref>League of Nations, Official Journal, 1928, p. 1574</ref> which recognized the existence of an independent government in Transjordan and defined and limited its powers. The ratifications were exchanged on 31 October 1929."<ref>1919 Foreign Relations of the United States, vol. XIII, Paris Peace Conference (1947), p. 100. For a summary of the Agreement of 20 February 1928, between the United Kingdom and the Emir of Transjordan, see Bentwich, "The Mandate for Transjordan", X Brit. Yb. Int'l L. (1929) 212.</ref><ref>Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) 631</ref>

===1946 independence===
[[File:Treaty of Alliance between His Majesty in respect of the United Kingdom and His Highness the Amir of Trans-Jordan, cmd. 6779.pdf|thumb|1946 Treaty of Alliance between His Majesty in respect of the United Kingdom and His Highness the Amir of Trans-Jordan, cmd. 6779]]
{{see also|Jordan|End of the British Mandate for Palestine}}

On 17 January 1946, [[Ernest Bevin]], the British [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]], announced in a speech at the [[General Assembly of the United Nations]] that the British Government intended to take steps in the near future to establish Transjordan as a fully independent and sovereign state.<ref>{{cite web |title=Attitude of the United States regarding the granting of independence to Trans-Jordan by the United Kingdom |url=http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1946v07/reference/frus.frus1946v07.i0017.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929005228/http://images.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/EFacs/1946v07/reference/frus.frus1946v07.i0017.pdf |archive-date=29 September 2018 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington}}</ref> The [[Treaty of London (1946)|Treaty of London]] was signed by the British Government and the Emir of Transjordan on 22 March 1946 as a mechanism to recognise the full independence of Transjordan upon ratification by both countries parliaments. Transjordan's impending independence was recognized on 18 April 1946 by the [[League of Nations]] during the last meeting of that organization.<ref name=hall/> On 25 May 1946 the Transjordan became the "'''Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan'''" when the ruling 'Amir' was re-designated as 'King' by the parliament of Transjordan on the day it ratified the Treaty of London. 25 May is still celebrated as independence day in Jordan although officially the mandate for Transjordan ended on 17 June 1946 when in accordance with the Treaty of London the ratifications were exchanged in Amman and Transjordan gained full independence.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/pdf/1946/TS0032.pdf |title=Treaty of Alliance |access-date=9 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004033332/http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/pdf/1946/TS0032.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2018 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1949 the country's official name was changed to the "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Transjordan, the Hāshimite Kingdom, and the Palestine war |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |author=Ian J. Bickerton, Kamel S. Abu Jaber |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Jordan/Transjordan-the-Hashimite-Kingdom-and-the-Palestine-war |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310074429/https://www.britannica.com/place/Jordan/Transjordan-the-Hashimite-Kingdom-and-the-Palestine-war |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5010 |title=The Hashemites and the Creation of Transjordan |work=Atlas of Jordan: History, Territories and Society |author=Myriam Ababsa |publisher=Presses de l’Ifpo, Institut français du Proche-Orient |year=2013 |location=Beirut |isbn=9782351593783 |quote=... the creation of the Kingdom of Jordan in 1949... |pages=212–221 |access-date=5 February 2015 |archive-date=5 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205053835/http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

When King Abdullah applied for membership in the newly formed [[United Nations]], his request was vetoed by the [[Soviet Union]], citing that the nation was not "fully independent" of British control. This resulted in another treaty in March 1948 with Britain in which all restrictions on sovereignty were removed. Despite this, Jordan was not a full member of the United Nations until 14 December 1955.<ref>{{cite book |author=James R. Crawford |title=The Creation of States in International Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiWQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA579 |date=15 March 2007 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-151195-0 |pages=579– |access-date=29 July 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801081525/https://books.google.com/books?id=jiWQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA579 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Anglo-American treaty, also known as the Palestine Mandate Convention, permitted the US to delay any unilateral British action to terminate the mandate. The earlier proclamation of the independence of Syria and Lebanon had said "the independence and sovereignty of Syria and Lebanon will not affect the juridical situation as it results from the Mandate Act. Indeed, this situation could be changed only with the agreement of the Council of the League of Nations, with the consent of the Government of the United States, a signatory of the Franco-American Convention of 4 April 1924".<ref>See Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, 1941. The British Commonwealth; the Near East and Africa Volume III (1941), pages 809–810; and Statement of General de Gaulle of 29 November 1941, concerning the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) 680–681</ref>

The U.S. adopted the policy that formal termination of the mandate with respect to Transjordan would follow the earlier precedent established by the [[French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]]. That meant termination would generally be recognized upon the admission of Transjordan into the United Nations as a fully independent country.<ref>See Foreign relations of the United States, 1946. The Near East and Africa Volume VII (1946), page 798 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1946v07.p0810&id=FRUS.FRUS1946v07&isize=M] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007121558/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&entity=FRUS.FRUS1946v07.p0810&id=FRUS.FRUS1946v07&isize=M|date=7 October 2009}}</ref> Members of the U.S. Congress introduced resolutions demanding that the U.S. Representative to the United Nations be instructed to seek postponement of any international determination of the status of Transjordan until the future status of Palestine as a whole was determined. The U.S. State Department also received a legal argument from Rabbis Wise and Silver objecting to the independence of Transjordan.<ref>See Foreign relations of the United States, 1946. General, the United Nations Volume I, (1946), 411 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1946v01&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=411] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604174813/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1946v01&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=411|date=4 June 2011}}</ref> At the 1947 Pentagon Conference, the U.S. advised Great Britain it was withholding recognition of Transjordan pending a decision on the Palestine question by the United Nations.<ref>Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. The Near East and Africa, Volume V, Page 603 [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1947v05&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=603] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604174822/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1947v05&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=603|date=4 June 2011}}</ref>

Transjordan applied for membership of the United Nations on 26 June 1946.<ref name=Hall>{{cite book |author=H. Duncan Hall |title=Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship |publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |year=1948 |place=London |pages=126–127}}</ref> The Polish representative said that he did not object to the independence of Transjordan, but requested that the application be postponed for a year on the grounds that legal procedures required by the Covenant of the League of Nations had not been carried out. The British representative responded that the League of Nations had already approved the termination of the mandate in Transjordan.<ref name=UNSC57a>[http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/NL4/600/08/PDF/NL460008.pdf?OpenElement ''Minutes of the 57th meeting of the Security Council'']{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, pp. 100–101, 29 August 1946; S/PV.57.<br />
"The League of Nations recently, on its deathbed, formally declared Transjordan free from the mandate." (p. 101)</ref><ref name=hall>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FU2PAAAAMAAJ&q=termination+mandated+status+Transjordan ''Mandates, dependencies and trusteeship''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929035359/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FU2PAAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:yRYr6tknGj0C&q=termination+mandated+status+Transjordan |date=29 September 2022 }}. League of Nations resolution, 18 April 1946 quoted in {{cite book |author=Duncan Hall |page=267 |title=Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship |year=1948 |quote="The Assembly...Recalls the role of the League in assisting Iraq to progress from its status under an "A" Mandate to a condition of complete independence, welcomes the termination of the mandated status of Syria, the Lebanon, and Transjordan, which have, since the last session of the Assembly, become independent members of the world community."}}</ref> When the issue was voted on, Transjordan's application achieved the required total number of votes, but was vetoed by the Soviet Union which did not approve membership of any countries with which it did not have diplomatic relations.<ref name=UNSC57b>[http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/NL4/600/08/PDF/NL460008.pdf?OpenElement ''Minutes of the 57th meeting of the Security Council'']{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, pp. 138–139, 29 August 1946; S/PV.57. In favour: Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Mexico, Netherlands, UK, USA. Against: Poland, USSR. Abstention: Australia</ref><ref name=Liang>{{cite journal |author=Yuen-Li Liang |title=Conditions of admission of a state to membership in the United Nations |journal=The American Journal of International Law |volume=43 |year=1949 |issue=2 |pages=288–303 |doi=10.2307/2193036 |jstor=2193036 |s2cid=147409592}}</ref> This problem and similar problems caused by vetoes of the memberships of Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Finland and Italy took several years and many votes to solve.<ref name=Liang/> Jordan was finally admitted to membership on 14 December 1955.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/members/index.shtml |title=Member States of the United Nations |access-date=28 June 2017 |archive-date=30 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230101646/http://www.un.org/en/members/index.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>