Hussein King Of Jordan

Jordan's King Hussein blamed "foreign circles" Sunday for inciting the worst rioting in his country since he cautiously ushered in democratic reforms seven years ago, but critics said the government had foolishly ignored warnings that doubling bread prices would cause unrest. Eleven opposition parties demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Karim Kabariti, whose pro-Western, market-oriented government ordered the price increases.

King Hussein accused a foreign government Thursday of instigating food riots, a reference to Iraq that is likely to escalate tensions between the neighbors. "I have confessions here that many of the disturbances that occurred in Jordan were incited from outside with decisions, backing, commitments and instigation from governments," Hussein said in a nationally televised speech.

Jordan's King Hussein made his first public visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to promote a relationship that has fast become the deepest among the region's former rivals, as Secretary of State Warren Christopher began his 16th Mideast shuttle by calling for an "acceleration" of the peace process. The king's visit underscored the surprisingly swift bonding between Israel and Jordan, which was hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Wednesday as the "model peace."

Arab and Israeli leaders began arriving here Monday night for an emergency meeting designed to end the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence and resume progress in the region's tortuous search for peace. The summit is scheduled for today and Wednesday, despite Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's deep misgivings and a snub from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who rejected President Clinton's personal appeal to attend.

King Hussein offered a dramatic gesture Tuesday in support of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, as the Jordanian monarch made his first public visit to the West Bank in almost 30 years to discuss the troubled Mideast peace process. Hussein, the first Arab leader to travel to this autonomous Palestinian area, said his landmark visit was intended to help speed the pace of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over Israel's overdue withdrawal of its troops from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Iraq has broadcast a speech by Jordan's King Hussein which Kuwait hailed as a turning point that could help bring down Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. State television and Shebab TV--a channel run by the Iraqi leader's son Uday--broadcast the full speech without comment Wednesday. In it, the king criticized Saddam Hussein and accused his government of planning to invade Kuwait.

Angered and frustrated by the failure of a U.S.-orchestrated policy to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, King Hussein of Jordan has launched his own initiative to form an opposition coalition capable of challenging the Baghdad regime, according to Iraqi sources and Western diplomats. They say the king's three-point plan calls first for a meeting of major opposition leaders and intellectuals in either Amman, Jordan, or London in early 1996.

King Hussein underwent throat surgery Friday to remove a cyst that had caused recurring nasal and ear infections. He was reported in excellent condition and recuperating well at the Hussein Medical Center.

Five months after signing a peace agreement with Israel, King Hussein of Jordan said in Beverly Hills on Saturday that he is committed to continuing "a new era of peace-building . . . to replace the psychological legacy of war."

Perched on a concrete slab in the Museum of Tolerance's replica of a World War II gas chamber, Jordan's King Hussein swallowed hard and blinked back tears as he watched a video about Nazi cruelty toward Jewish infants. The emotional moment capped the king's historic tour of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles on Friday--the first time a Muslim leader has visited an American Jewish museum.