Anger simmers among Jordanian tribes as economy tanks

Anger simmers among Jordanian tribes as economy tanks

KARAK, Jordan – Jordan has drawn a curtain of secrecy across the unprecedented public rift within its royal family, but the social tensions laid bare by the palace drama that unfolded in April, particularly the economic despair of its influential tribes, can be seen everywhere.

Years of economic crisis have frayed the historic patronage-for-loyalty bond between the king and the tribes, a bedrock of the Hashemite family’s decades-long rule.

That may have been an underlying factor in an alleged plot by the half brother of King Abdullah II to try to take a throne he was once in line to inherit. The prince has been silenced and his purported co-conspirators are on trial behind closed doors.