Habis Majali

Habis Majali seen with Prime Minister Wasfi Tal during a military parade.

Habis Majali walking alongside Queen Alia, 1960s.

Majali joined Jordan's Arab Legion in 1932, soon impressing Glubb Pasha. Although he acquired modern skills, Majali maintained his Bedouin élan. King Hussein's biographer, James Lunt, dubbed Majali the grand seigneur of Karak and beau sabreur of the army.[4]

Habis Pasha was the only Arab commander to win military victories against Israelis, Palestinians and Syrians alike.[3] His "baptism of fire", according to The Guardian obituary, came during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when he successfully defended the town of Latrun near Jerusalem against Israeli forces. He managed to secure the West Bank under Glubb Pasha.[4]

Majali claimed that he had caught Ariel Sharon in the battle, who was then a young Lieutenant. Sharon, who would later become Israeli prime minister, denied the claim. However, Habis boasted: "Sharon is like a grizzly bear, I captured him for 9 days, I healed his wounds and released him due to his insignificance." Few fellow high-ranking Jordanian officers testified in favour of his account.[4]

It was Majali who was commander of the Royal Guard when King Abdullah I was assassinated on 20 July 1951 as he was entering the Al Aqsa mosque. Abdullah insisted on speaking to the crowds on his way to the mosque, but Majali thought it was too dangerous and ordered soldiers to surround the King–angering him. The King moved ahead of his guards, and was shot dead by a Palestinian.[2]

King Hussein found Majali valuable after he was responsible for tracking down his Nasserite enemies during the upheavals of the 1950s. Majali was tasked in 1960 with restoring order after Syrian agents had murdered his cousin Prime Minister Hazza' Majali.[4]

Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. Majali was forced during the war to relinquish Jordan's army command to Egypt. He then resigned, but served as defense minister until 1968.[2]

Majali was appointed as Chief of Staff of the army in 1970, to supervise the expulsion of Palestinian fedayeen (guerrillas) from Jordan during what became known as Black September.[2]

On the Yom Kippor War in 1973, Trevor N. Dupuy, an American historian, later wrote that Israelis were impressed by "Jordanian tactical performance, evidencing higher professional standards than the Syrians or the Iraqis".[2]

During the last 20 years of his life, he resigned from the army and served as Senator in the Jordanian Parliament's upper chamber.[2]