Jordan: Timeline

1948:
State of Israel created in British-mandate Palestine. Palestinians flee Arab-Israeli fighting to West Bank and Jordan.
 
1950:
Jordan annexes West Bank.
 
1951:
King Abdullah assassinated by Palestinian gunman.
 
1952:
Hussein proclaimed king after his father, Talal, is determined to be mentally unfit to rule.
 
1957:
British troops fully withdraw from Jordan.
 
1967:
Israel takes control of Jerusalem and West Bank during Six Day War. Refugees flee into Jordan.
 
1970:
Clashes break out between government forces and Palestinian guerrillas resulting in thousands of casualties in civil war known as Black September.
 
1974:
King Hussein recognizes the Palestine Liberation Front as sole legitimate representative of Palestinian people.
 
1986:
Hussein severs political links with the PLO and orders its offices shut down.
 
1988:
Hussein publicly backs the Palestinian uprising against Israeli.
 
1994:
Jordan signs peace treaty with Israel, ending 46-year official state of war.
 
1999:
After the death of his father, Crown Prince Abdullah bin al-Hussein is sworn in as King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
 
2003 June:
First Parliamentary elections held. Two-thirds of seats won by independent candidates loyal to the king.
 
2005:
Sixty people killed in suicide bombings at international hotels in Amman. Bombings allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
 
2007 July:
First local elections since 1999. The opposition party, the Islamist Action Front, withdraws from elections after accusing the government of electoral fraud.
 
2008:
King Abdullah visits Iraq as the first Arab leader to visit the country since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
 
2010 August:
Law of Information System Crimes passed to regulate information on the Internet. 
 
2010 December:
Inflation rose from 1.5% to 6.1%. Unemployment reached 12% and poverty reached 25%.
 
2011:
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest opposition groups in Jordan, encouraged a mass protest on January 26 to protest Prime Minister Samir Rifai’s economic policies and the political situation in the country.
 
January 28, 2011:
After Friday prayers, 3,500 activists from the Muslim Brotherhood, trade unions, and communist and leftist organizations demanded that Samir Rifai step down as prime minister and that the government take control of rising prices, inflation and unemployment. Protests were reported in Amman, the capital, along with six other cities.
 
February 2, 2011: 
Demonstrations continue demanding that Kind Abdullah II remove his newly appointed prime minister from office. The next day King Abdullah met with Muslim Brotherhood leaders in an attempt to defuse tensions.
 
February 4, 2011: 
Hundreds of people congregated outside the prime minister’s office to demand economic and political reforms and the dissolution of parliament. Many marched to the Egyptian embassy to show solidarity with the Egyptian protesters.
 
February 18, 2011:
Protesters gathered in central Amman clashed with a small group of government supporters who attacked the protesters with sticks and stones, according to eyewitnesses.
 
February 25, 2011:
Between 6,000 and 10,000 protesters took to the streets, resulting in the largest protest to date. The Islamic Action Front, along with nineteen other political parties had called for the protests.
 
March 24, 2011:
Approximately 500 protestors composed of a range of youth, including university students and unemployed, politically unaffiliated graduates set up a protest camps in the main square of the capital to demands social reform and public freedoms.
 
March 25, 2011:
Clashes occurred between supporters of the king and more than 2000 protesters camped in Gamal Abdel Nasser Circle in Jordan. Witnesses said that the police stood by as government supporters threw stones at protesters in the square. As many as 100 people were reported injured with head wounds and one was confirmed dead.
 
April 1, 2011:
About 400 policemen were deployed to separate hundred of government supporters and pro-reform activists holding rival rallies outside municipal offices in Amman.
 
April 15, 2011:
After Friday prayers more than 2,000 Jordanians took to the streets throughout the country demanding greater political representation. A crowd of a few hundred Islamists clashed with a group of monarchy loyalists in Zarqa. Eight civilians and eighty-three policemen were wounded, including four in critical condition.
 
June 13, 2011:
Motorcade of King Abdullah II is attacked with stones and bottles by protesters in the city of Tafileh.
 
June 17, 2011:
Youth movement organizes to protest for reforms following midday prayers in front of the Al Marj Grand Mosque in Karak on Friday. 

September 20, 2011:
Sit-ins in Jordan continue denouncing the use of violence and a petition for less obstruction of the media by the government.

October 12, 2011:

Jordan announces they’ll be holding municipal elections Dec. 27^th, creating resistance from Islamic groups boycotting them until their demands are met.

October 18, 2011:

King Abdullah appoints a new prime minister due to the previous leader’s failure to implement the reforms quickly enough. The new appointment however has been said to be in response to the recent protests.

Oct. 25, 2011:

The King appointed a new cabinet seeking to tackle the budget deficit issue. The changes illustrate efforts to appease the unhappy population continuing to protest in the nation.