January 22, 2017 13 News & Analysis Jordan cabinet reshuffle strengthens king’s control

Mamoon Alabbasi three civilians, including a Cana- Finance Minister Omar Malhas, dian tourist, were killed. The king- kept his job in the reshuffle. dom has been hit by number of ISIS The government has toughened London attacks in the past year. its crackdown against critics of its Former Interior minister Salamah austerity programme. The coun- ordanian King Abdullah II Hamad narrowly avoided a vote of try’s state security court charged reshuffled the country’s no-confidence in parliament but eight people, including a former cabinet, bringing in five new lost his job in the cabinet reshuffle. member of parliament and a retired ministers but keeping Prime King Abdullah II fired the head of major-general, with incitement af- Minister Hani Mulki in his the Public Security Directorate, Ma- ter they allegedly joined social me- Jpost as the country faces an in- jor-General Atef al-Saudi, over his dia protests against expected price creased risk from the Islamic State handling of the Karak shootings. increases. (ISIS) and resistance to planned He was replaced by Major-General austerity measures. Ahmad Fatih, who was reportedly The reshuffle came The two most notable changes urged by the king to improve the when the country is January 15th were the appointment skills of those under his command. facing a rising threat of former police chief Ghaleb Zubi The Religious Affairs Ministry from ISIS attacks. as Interior minister and the selec- said it dismissed 15 mosque preach- tion of royal family adviser Ayman ers and disciplined seven others for Safadi as Foreign minister. refusing to take part in nationwide Tourism Minister Lina Annab, The other three new ministers memorial prayers for the Jordanian who retained her job, said the coun- are Mamdouh Abbadi as minister troops killed by ISIS in Karak. try’s tourism sector fared better in of State for Prime Ministry Affairs, Observers say the dismissal of 2016 from the previous year despite as minister of Educa- the former Foreign minister Nasser several terror attacks. tion and Hadithah Khreisha as min- Judeh, who had been the country’s “It’s business as usual and the ister of Youth. top diplomat since 2009, was de- cancellations have been minimal. Bisher Khasawneh, who was signed to enable a more direct role Unfortunately, as for danger there minister of State for Foreign Affairs in diplomacy to be played by the is no place that is 100% safe,” said in the previous cabinet, was given Royal Court, via Safadi. Annab. the post of minister of State for Le- They add that Khasawneh’s for- Jordan has reportedly attracted gal Affairs. mer post as minister of State for larger numbers of tourists from Foreign Affairs was created so the Gulf Arab states in recent years, The government is Royal Court could exert influence making up for the drop in package carrying out on the country’s foreign policy tours by European operators. Tour- unpopular austerity when Judeh did not see eye to eye ism, which is one of the country’s with the king. main sources of foreign currency, measures to cut As the new minister is the king’s constitutes about 10% of the coun- public debt. man in the cabinet, there was no try’s gross domestic product. longer a need for Khasawneh’s for- has also appealed to mer post. However, he assumed a donor countries for $7.6 billion The reshuffle came as the coun- new ministerial role. through 2019 to deal with the ef- try is facing a rising threat from at- The cabinet changes came during fects of the crisis in neighbouring tacks by ISIS amid public criticism the implementation of the govern- Syria. Jordan hosts 650,000 Syrian of the security services’ ability to ment’s unpopular austerity meas- refugees. counter such dangers. ures to cut public debt, as part of ISIS claimed the December 18th economic reforms mandated by the Mamoon Alabbasi is an Arab Jordan’s newly appointed Foreign Minister (R) and attack in Karak province in which 11 International Monetary Fund. The Weekly contributing editor based newly appointed Education Minister Omar Razzaz at the Jordanian members of the security forces and man overseeing those measures, in London. Royal Palace in Amman on January 15th. (AFP) Castle attack exposes Jordan’s vulnerability to ISIS threat

Karin Laub and hammed Momani said Jordan, a and a Jordanian officer were killed where to affirm its relevance. ished, said Religious Affairs Minis- Mohammed Daraghmeh member of the US-led military coa- in a shoot-out during an arrest Jordan is a logical target because ter Wael Arabiyat. lition against ISIS, is a target but raid. In June, ISIS sent a car bomb of the visible presence of Western Critics say Jordan fails to address has countered threats because of from Syria that killed seven Jorda- installations and foreigners, said the wider causes of the militants’ Karak, Jordan social cohesion and what he said nian troops. Lone gunmen carried David Schenker of the Washington appeal among Jordanians, hun- were well-trained security forces. out three separate attacks at Jor- Institute for Near East Policy. dreds of whom have fought in the ullet marks on the thick “We know we have been suc- danian security installations, with The United States is expected to ranks of ISIS in and Syria. walls of a Crusader for- cessful in stopping them on many five Americans among the dead. provide $1.6 billion in economic Musleh Tarawneh, a Karak leg- tress and shattered win- other occasions,” he said. “If you Jordanian officials have remained and military support to its belea- islator who led the recent push in dows of nearby restau- look at what is happening in coun- silent about the attackers’ motives. guered ally in 2017. parliament to dismiss the Interior rants — damage from a tries around us… you see our abil- “The narrative here in Washing- minister, noted that unemploy- Brecent shooting rampage — bear ity to preserve our stability and ton is that the threat is pretty large ment in his district has risen to Critics say Jordan witness to Jordan’s vulnerability security.” fails to address the but that Jordan can handle it,” 25% and that university graduates to attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) Jordan’s confrontation with ISIS wider causes of the Schenker said. cannot find jobs. “Islamic State extremists. goes back to 2014, when the king- militants’ appeal Jordan began a clampdown on found a way to enter the Jordanian Some say the assault on Karak dom began air strikes as part of an suspected ISIS sympathisers in tribes through poverty and unem- Castle last month by Jordanian fol- international campaign to dislodge among Jordanians. 2014, with several hundred people ployment,” he said. lowers of ISIS could signal a more ISIS from large areas of neighbour- now serving prison terms and five The rise in unemployment is a aggressive campaign to destabilise ing Syria and Iraq. recently sentenced to death. result of long-term trends, includ- the pro-Western kingdom. Jordan’s military strikes, how- As ISIS comes under growing After the Karak shooting, secu- ing an economic slump caused in The government dismisses ISIS ever, have not kept the militants pressure in Syria and Iraq, a grad- rity forces detained dozens more part by regional instability, that as a fringe phenomenon and says from its borders and have made ual retreat there might generate people. Twenty-two hard-line could take years to reverse. The Jordan’s security forces can con- the kingdom a target. an even stronger incentive for the preachers who refused to pray for Karak shooting dealt another set- tain any threat but the December Last year, seven ISIS supporters group to carry out attacks else- the Karak victims would be pun- back to an already struggling tour- 18th shooting set disconcerting ism industry, once a vital part of precedents. It marked the first time Jordan’s economy. ISIS claimed an attack on a civilian Atef al-Saoud, the head of site in Jordan, a spot popular with the Public Security Directorate, tourists. A Canadian woman and said this month that the cell had two local residents were among planned to carry out New Year’s ten people killed. Eve attacks with explosives belts. The four shooters were sons of Individual tourists from the Jordanian tribes, traditionally a United States, Italy and Switzer- pillar of support for the monar- land seemed undeterred, walking chy. Local media said they were outside the castle a day before it college-educated men in their late reopened. 20s and early 30s, underscoring They said they felt safe because the appeal of ISIS ideology among the probability of a second attack some Jordanians. in the same spot was low. They The security establishment faced also said that attacks by militants rare criticism over its failure to pre- can happen anywhere, pointing vent the attack, with more than to recent incidents in Berlin and one-third of parliament members Istanbul. calling for a vote of no-confidence Emily Clymer, 31, a US academic in the Interior minister. from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Marwan Shehadeh, an expert on said she felt safer in the Jordanian militants, said the Karak shooting capital, Amman, where she works, signalled “a remarkable change” than in the United States. Jorda- in ISIS tactics. “The year 2017 will nian security forces “take precau- be the year of great security chal- tions; they react quickly”, she said. lenges in Jordan,” he said. Government spokesman Mo- Jordanian security forces patrol in front of Karak Castle last December. (AP) (The Associated Press)