(4 of 8)
Opposed to Jordan's continued existence, Nabulsi and his Palestinians set great store instead by Arab unity, believing that only through a strong, unified Arab nation could they regain their lost homes in Israel. Their ambitions reflected a natural loyalty to their land; the Communists rushed in to exploit it unnaturally, identifying the West as the cause of all their troubles, for having thrust the State of Israel into their midst. Shortly before Israel invaded Sinai, Jordan united its armed forces with Syria's and Egypt's, thereby ringing Israel, under the supreme command of an Egyptian. Major General Abdel Hakim Amer. Yet as an Arab wag put it: "How can Jordan unite with Egypt? Tunnels?" Federation with Syria seemed a more practical first step.
Under a compact that Nabulsi made with Syria, schools in Jordan and Syria now give common degrees, follow common courses, and eventually were to use common textbooks (to be produced by Nasser's professors). The Nabulsi government also initialed an agreement with Syria for a customs and currency union that would shortly have shifted Jordan's economic capital to Damascus—an arrangement that Jerusalem's sharp traders were slow in getting wise to. In their first months in office, Nabulsi's leftists brought the Anglo-Jordanian treaty to an end. replaced the British subsidy by a pledge of financial help from Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia (which only oil-rich Saudi Arabia has so far honored), and began a systematic purge of pro-Western and royalist elements in the civil service. The overthrow of Hussein himself seemed only a matter of time.
Desperately convinced that Jordan's only way to survive as a kingdom was to qualify for U.S. Eisenhower Plan aid, the young King wrote a blunt letter to Premier Nabulsi: "We now detect the danger of Communist infiltration in our Arab homeland, and the threat posed by those who feign loyalty to Arab nationalism, indulge in hullabaloo, prevarications, falsehood and heroics, thereby seeking to conceal their evil designs against Arab nationalism and the fact that they cooperate with our enemies in misleading the masses and exploiting the people." He demanded that Nabulsi purge his Cabinet of its three most notorious pro-Communist members. The Cabinet replied by voting to establish diplomatic relations with "our good friend the Soviet Union." The Palestinian leftists figured that they had Hussein licked—not so much because they dominated Parliament, controlled the streets and enjoyed the covert cooperation of young Army Chief Ali Abu Nuwar, but because Nasser, the overlord of Arab nationalism, was on their side.