Abdul Salam Majali, a Jordanian physician and politician, spent 5 decades of his life moving between medicine, the army, university education, and political work, all the way to the prime minister's office.

He contributed to managing the negotiations with the Israeli occupation, and dealing with the opposition in Parliament and the Jordanian street. He is considered the architect of the Jordanian-Israeli peace agreement known as the "Wadi Araba Treaty".

Former Jordanian Prime Minister Abd al-Salam al-Majali describes himself in his book "The Journey of a Lifetime... From the House of Poetry to Power", that "his personality and being were built on giving." The doctor gives his life to patients, the teacher gives his knowledge, effort and time to the student, and the soldier in the army gives his life and soul. home.

He managed the negotiation file of the Jordanian-Israeli peace process by assuming the leadership of the Jordanian delegation in it in 1991, leading to the signing of the agreement in 1994 when he held the position of Prime Minister.

Birth and upbringing

Abd al-Salam Atallah al-Majali was born in 1925 in the village of Yarot in the Karak Governorate, south of Jordan, where he studied elementary school, and accompanied his father in his work as a tax collector, so he learned from him methods of addressing people and ways of dealing with them.

Scientific study and training

Al-Majali moved to Al-Salt Secondary School to complete his studies, and there he met a group of Jordanians who had a role in building the modern kingdom, and from there to Damascus University in Syria to study medicine.

When the 1948 war broke out and the Jordanian army participated in confronting the "Israeli gangs" at the time, Majali decided to join the army and was the first doctor in the Jordanian Armed Forces.

He got acquainted with King Hussein bin Talal closely in 1950 when he met him in London, after he obtained a scholarship in the specialty of ear, nose and throat, and there he also met his first English wife, nurse John Mary, who participated with him - after marriage and returning with him to Jordan - in establishing the first Faculty of Nursing in Jordan at the Military Medical Services Hospital.

Abd al-Salam al-Majali joined the army when the war broke out in 1948 and was the first doctor in the Jordanian (French) Armed Forces.

A quantum leap in university teaching

Majali took over the presidency of the University of Jordan in 1971 in a sensitive and difficult circumstance after the events of "Black September". Presiding over the first and only university in Jordan at that time was not an easy matter for a former army officer or minister.

However, in the spirit of teamwork and with the help of deans of faculties and teachers, the University of Jordan achieved a quantum leap, as it opened new specializations, the most important of which are medicine, dentistry, engineering and Sharia, and began the study system by hours instead of academic years.

During his work as Minister of Health in 1969, Majali sought to establish the "Medical Curative Institution", which is a medical project that brings together official hospitals within the Kingdom, whether affiliated to the armed forces, the Ministry of Health or public universities, under one independent umbrella with complete independence, providing all Jordanians - military personnel Civilians employed in the public or private sectors - comprehensive medical insurance for those who wish to be treated in these institutions.

Kidnapping and migration

During the year 1970, Majali was subjected to two kidnappings, he and his family in Amman and Beirut, which prompted him to emigrate to the United Kingdom and reside there permanently, but his stay did not last long after the former Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Al-Tal invited him to return to Jordan, so he returned and participated in the Al-Tal government between 1970 and 1971 as Minister of Health. And Minister for Prime Minister Affairs.

arena of political life

Majali entered the arena of political life in 1969 by assuming the Ministry of Health, and moved between the ministries of education and prime ministerial affairs, leading to the formation of his first government between 1993 and 1995, during which he signed the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Agreement in 1994.

In addition to his position as prime minister, he carried the foreign and defense portfolios, and his first government submitted its resignation to King Hussein bin Talal in January 1995.

Following his government’s signing of the Wadi Araba Agreement and the accompanying “state of public anger and rejection,” according to the opposition, in addition to holding parliamentary elections on the basis of the one-vote law and issuing a law according to which weekly newspapers were closed, freedom of expression was restricted, subsidies were lifted for consumer goods, and sales tax was approved;

He was forced to submit his resignation under a state of pressure from the Jordanians.

His opponents disagree with him, especially after his government recommended in 1993 the dissolution of the eleventh parliament, the first parliament after the return of democratic life to Jordan in 1989, and his government issued the “one-vote law” to hold parliamentary elections for the twelfth parliament, a law that witnessed widespread opposition. A reason for the opposition parties to boycott the 1997 parliamentary elections and not to participate in the thirteenth House of Representatives.

Al-Majali (left) congratulates former Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez on Parliament's confidence in his government in 2003 (French)

adherence to the peace agreement

Majali expressed his adherence to the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty until his death, because Jordan - as he said - obtained its rights to "water, demarcation of borders with Israel, restoration of its lands, and burial of the idea of ​​an alternative homeland," despite Israeli voices calling from time to time for Jordan to be an alternative homeland. for the Palestinians.

Majali added that Jordan was able to continue sponsoring Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city of Jerusalem, and was able to put pressure on the Israeli side, provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority, and facilitate the movement of Palestinians through the border crossings with Jordan.

Achievements

The Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Jordan, the writer Muhannad Mobaideen, described him - in an article - as having the first position in several places, as he is:

  • The first Muslim doctor in Karak.

  • The first Jordanian doctor to enter the army.

  • The first Jordanian soldier to specialize in ear, nose and throat.

  • The first originator of the health insurance system for the families of the Arab army.

In the academic and political arena:

  • The first to introduce the credit hour system at the University of Jordan.

  • The first doctor to head the University of Jordan.

  • The first prime minister to activate the one-vote law for parliamentary elections.

  • The first prime minister who did not include representatives in his government after 1989, due to his belief in the principle of separation of powers.

Death

Abd al-Salam al-Majali died on Tuesday evening, January 3, 2023, at the age of 98, and was buried in his village in the family cemetery.