The West Bank, which had been ruled…

The West Bank, which had been ruled by Jordan since 1948, is economically underdeveloped but possesses a relatively efficient administrative infrastructure.

Its seven hundred and fifty thousand people consist of a settled population and refugees from Israel who had fled during the 1948 War.

Both the refugees and the settled population are Jordanian citizens, free to work in Jordan.

Most of the leading urban families and virtually all the rural clans had cooperated with King Hussein.