Jordan Armed Forces

Of all the examples of foreign culture that have been transplanted to the Arab world, few present a more arresting sight than the warriors in Cossack uniform who stride through the corridors of King Hussein's palace. With black astrakhan hats, fierce mustaches, silver swords and chests covered with brass cartridges, the members of the king's guard look as if they have marched out of the pages of a Tolstoy novel rather than being at the center of a modern Arab capital.

The killer of seven Israeli schoolgirls should have been shot to death by his fellow soldiers as soon as he began firing, King Hussein said Thursday. In unusually harsh words, the king wrote to security forces a week after a Jordanian soldier shot the girls on an island in the Jordan River and said the soldiers' comrades should have tried to "kill him immediately." The gunman, Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh, 28, has been detained for questioning. He is expected to be tried in a military court.

A Jordanian soldier unleashed volleys of automatic rifle fire on Israeli schoolgirls who were on a field trip at the scenic "Island of Peace" border post Thursday, killing seven of the junior high students and wounding six. Witnesses said 40 to 50 eighth-graders had gotten off their bus and were surveying the sun-washed view over the River Jordan when the gunman grabbed a fellow soldier's weapon and began firing at the students' backs from a guard tower.

The slaying of seven Israeli schoolgirls by a Jordanian soldier this week highlighted what has become a sad truth here--that peace in the Middle East never quite lives up to its name. Or even to expectations. Egypt and Israel made peace nearly 20 years ago, and neither side has much good to say about it still.

A senior Israeli military officer said Friday that Jordan's King Hussein is preparing his army and his people "for a possible war in the very near future." The officer, who asked not to be identified by name, said the "air smells of war," and Israel is watching developments "very carefully."

Artist Wassef Mwafi, 35, has laid down his brush and is learning to use a gun along with thousands of Jordanians who want to defend their country and, if possible, fight for Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Jordanian officials said Wednesday that 323,000 men and women have volunteered for the Popular Army since Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. The volunteers, aged 16 to 55, include doctors, engineers, lawyers, laborers, industrialists and Bedouins.

Two hours after the attack on Baghdad began, Jordan--the nation lying uneasily between Iraq and Israel--was still, its night streets quiet. Jordan's state-run radio and television deliberately delayed reporting the opening of the war until 3 a.m., nearly three hours after the first explosions were reported live elsewhere in the world. There was no immediate statement from King Hussein's government, nor any obvious sign of increased security in the downtown area of the capital.

Israeli soldiers Sunday shot and killed a Jordanian soldier who crossed into Israeli territory near the Sea of Galilee in the latest of a weeklong string of border incidents, the military said. In Jordan, an army official said a conscript from the same area "was absent since yesterday (Saturday) and had his personal weapon." The official, quoted by the state-run Petra news agency, said Jordanian soldiers had searched the area but could not find him.

A lone Jordanian soldier who infiltrated into Israel shot and wounded an American visitor and held an off-duty Israeli servicewoman hostage for nearly four hours before being killed by an army sharpshooter, officials said. According to his victims, the man said he was avenging a brother who was killed by Jews. Military officials said he was deranged and acted on his own. The siege ended when Israeli troops stormed a toolshed where the attacker held the hostage.

The slaying of seven Israeli schoolgirls by a Jordanian soldier this week highlighted what has become a sad truth here--that peace in the Middle East never quite lives up to its name. Or even to expectations. Egypt and Israel made peace nearly 20 years ago, and neither side has much good to say about it still.

Silence descended Friday on the rundown family home of Ahmed Moussa Daqamseh. Police turned away the curious. Neighbors clammed up, apparently aware of police orders not to discuss Daqamseh, the Jordanian soldier who shot seven Israeli schoolgirls to death the day before. Regional police gave the reason: "It's very sensitive," one said. "It's a matter between states."

It was long after nightfall when the last bus pulled into this anxious town carrying the young survivors home to their tearful parents. One by one, the weeping and exhausted schoolgirls struggled down the steps of the bus and into their parents' arms. They were witnesses to a bloody attack that left seven of their classmates dead, six others injured and turned an annual school outing into a nightmare. The scene outside the Amit Fierst School on Thursday evening was one of chaos and emotion.

A Jordanian soldier unleashed volleys of automatic rifle fire on Israeli schoolgirls who were on a field trip at the scenic "Island of Peace" border post Thursday, killing seven of the junior high students and wounding six. Witnesses said 40 to 50 eighth-graders had gotten off their bus and were surveying the sun-washed view over the River Jordan when the gunman grabbed a fellow soldier's weapon and began firing at the students' backs from a guard tower.

Artist Wassef Mwafi, 35, has laid down his brush and is learning to use a gun along with thousands of Jordanians who want to defend their country and, if possible, fight for Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Jordanian officials said Wednesday that 323,000 men and women have volunteered for the Popular Army since Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. The volunteers, aged 16 to 55, include doctors, engineers, lawyers, laborers, industrialists and Bedouins.

Two hours after the attack on Baghdad began, Jordan--the nation lying uneasily between Iraq and Israel--was still, its night streets quiet. Jordan's state-run radio and television deliberately delayed reporting the opening of the war until 3 a.m., nearly three hours after the first explosions were reported live elsewhere in the world. There was no immediate statement from King Hussein's government, nor any obvious sign of increased security in the downtown area of the capital.

The Jordanian army has been holding unprecedented large-scale military maneuvers along the mountain ridge overlooking the Jordan Valley, Israeli government sources reported Thursday. The exercises, involving most of the Jordanian army, are apparently designed to demonstrate the kingdom's military readiness as the Persian Gulf crisis moves toward a "flash point," according to a senior Israeli official.

Silence descended Friday on the rundown family home of Ahmed Moussa Daqamseh. Police turned away the curious. Neighbors clammed up, apparently aware of police orders not to discuss Daqamseh, the Jordanian soldier who shot seven Israeli schoolgirls to death the day before. Regional police gave the reason: "It's very sensitive," one said. "It's a matter between states."

Here on the banks of the Jordan River just a shout from Israel and the Israeli-held West Bank, signs of the military preparedness that Israeli officials have called "unusual" were not in evidence Saturday. In the small Jordanian military bases dotting the hills that rise steeply from the valley, and along the main road that nudges the trickle of a river, there were no signs of a special buildup or precautions.

Here on the banks of the Jordan River just a shout from Israel and the Israeli-held West Bank, signs of the military preparedness that Israeli officials have called "unusual" were not in evidence Saturday. In the small Jordanian military bases dotting the hills that rise steeply from the valley, and along the main road that nudges the trickle of a river, there were no signs of a special buildup or precautions.

A senior Israeli military officer said Friday that Jordan's King Hussein is preparing his army and his people "for a possible war in the very near future." The officer, who asked not to be identified by name, said the "air smells of war," and Israel is watching developments "very carefully."