Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 7)
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- Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 7)
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administration could not, however,
make any promises concerning the stu-
dents under detention. (Present with the
administration during the negotiations
was Irbid’schief of police, Abd Al
Rahman Al Adwan.) The ugliness of the
whole situation was accentuated when it
was later known that two days before
the massacre, Hussein had made arran-
gements to replace the university presi-
dent, and given the central intelligence
carte blanche to quell the student upri-
sing at any cost.
THE MASSACRE
Thus it was at 1:30 a.m., when the
student delegation had finished nego-
tiating with the administration, that the
campus was stormed by central security
forces, the special bedouin units and
general intelligence forces, armed with
machine guns and truncheons. They
practiced no restraint-machine gune fire
was heard all the way to downtown
Irbid; students were teargassed out of
dormitories; deadly blows were leveled
with clubs at students’ heads and back-
bones; female students were dragged by
their hair and physically abused; some
students were tied to police cars and
dragged around the campus.
The besieged students found that
onions were being tossed to them by
citizens of Irbid, who had come to join
them against the security forces. The
students fought back with everything
they could lay their hands on. It soon
became clear from the ferocity of their
attackers, that it was a life or death
battle. Two security officers were killed
and about 20 were wounded. However,
the students, being neither armed nor
trained for such an onslaught, began to
lose ground. They started to flee the
university premises. Some climbed up
the mineret of the mosque and used the
loudspeakers to rally support and
appeal to the families of Irbid for help.
Calls of «Save your children from
death!» mixed with screaming and
machine gun fire.
By dawn, the campus was literally
strewn with the bodies of dead or
unconscious students, while the security
forces danced «the debkeh of victory»
on campus and in the streets of Irbid. By
morning, news of the massacre had
spread. Students once again closed
ranks and demonstrated. Irbid’s popu-
lation flowed into the streets to protest
the horrible acts of repression. Again
the security forces rushed to disperse
demonstrators. The Irbid area was iso-
lated from other cities, while police cars
patrolled the streets. The Yarmouk
University campus was declared off-
limits, and surrounded by scores of
armoured cars.
A final count of dead and wounded
has not been possible, but eyewitness
reports from nationalist forces put the
number much higher than the regime’s
official statement of three dead. The
nationalist forces in Jordan estimate
that about 18 students were killed and
over SO seriously injured. However, it is
hard to get conclusive information,
because newspapers were instructed not
to publish obituaries for the dead stu-
dents. Moreover, many of the critically
wounded who then died were buried
secretly under heavy guard. Their fami-
lies were not notified until later. Others
still missing have been beaten to death
or shot off campus. Eight hundred stu-
dents were held for questioning, while
400 were arrested. Other cities were
combed, houses searched and arrests
made; 16 members of the Jordanian
Communist Party and its general secre-
tary were arrested. (Due to political
pressure, the latter was released on
grounds of ill health.)
Details of the massacre and letters of
condemnation were distributed to asso-
ciations, institutions and prominent
persons. The Yarmouk student council
distributed 1000 copies of a statement of
denunciation, while 1200 flysheets were
dispersed throughout Amman, Irbid
and Zarqa, Jordan’s three largest cities.
Foreign press agencies were notified,
while scores of Jordanian political,
social and youth organizations issued
denunciations. The embassies of all the
socialist countries and others were
orces - «The and shoot at
informed of the atrocities. The Soviet
ambassador left for Moscow, carrying
details of the student uprising, the sub-
sequent massacre and the arrest of Jor-
danian Communist Party members. On
May 29th, the Soviet Union issued a
strongly worded condemnation of the
Jordanian regime’s repressive mea-
sures. UNESCO warned that it would
no longer recognize Yarmouk as an
accredited university if such repressive
measures continued.
«DESTRUCTIVE
ELEMENTS» OR ECONOMIC
CRISIS
The tragic events at Irbid’s university
are not unrelated to the acute economic
crisis in Jordan. This crisis is due to a
decrease in revenues from expatriates
being laid off in oil-rich countries,
inflation and rising unemployment,
especially among new university gra-
duates. The 50,000 unemployed, most
of whom are university graduates,
constitute about 10% of the labor force,
according to official sources. On
February 5th, while visiting London,
Crown Prince Hassan made a speech
wherein he described unemployment as
one of the most «dangerous problems»
facing Jordan at present. He also men-
tioned that the increase in the GNP,
which was 12% between 1975-1980, fell
to 6% during 1981-86, because of
decreasing revenues from expatriates
working in the Gulf, and the drop in aid
to the Jordanian treasury due to
decreasing oil prices. No less indicative
of the crisis is the recent suicide of the
Jordanian millionaire, Saliba Rizk,
because of bankruptcy. The Jordanian
press has also hinted at other cases of
bankrupt millionaires. The new five-
year plan is an attempt to deal with
unemployment, especially in the light of
the fact that half a million expatriates
are expected to return to Jordan in the
next five years.
The regime’s threats to deal without
mercy, with anyone who tampers with
national security, obviously fall short of
addressing the essence of the crisis. This
crisis will continue despite claims that
Hussein’s forces have everything under
control. Feeble attempts have been
made to absorb popular anger, by
decreasing the prices of electricity and
water, while the regime has been gene-
rous with promises to release arrested
students.
Obviously, the tragic events at Yar-
mouk University are an indication of
internal turmoil which is not to be
underestimated. Hussein’s ever increa-
sing ties with the Camp David regime in
Egypt, his collaboration with the
US—Zionist enemy and his obvious
eagerness to usurp the PLO’s represen-
tation of the Palestinian people, have
not earned him the popularity he so
craves. This is true despite elaborate,
fabricated shows of ‘popular support’.
Hussein has obviously come up against
more opposition than he bargained for. @
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- Democratic Palestine : 17
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