King Abdullah Escapes Injury in Attack on Convoy

Angry Palestinian Jordanians stoned the convoy of King Abdullah Monday afternoon and exchanged gunshots with his guards, according to an activist who quoted reliable sources, including Jordanian journalists.

The king was unharmed, and the monarchy claimed that the attackers actually were trying to shake King Abdullah’s hand as he toured in the southern city of Tafillah.

The official version of the incident, the second in three months, is that “the motorcade of His Majesty the King was not attacked.” Government spokesman Taher Adwan said, "This news is totally baseless. What happened is that a group of young Jordanians thronged the monarch's motorcade to shake hands with him." When police pushed them away, “There was a lot of shoving.”

The attack, confirmed to Israel National News by other sources, came hours after King Abdullah promised democratic reforms – without setting a date. Mudar Zahran, a political activist who lives in London, told INN that his sources in Jordan confirmed that “the king’s convoy came under fire from angry young men from Tafillah.”

He said that after the king’s convoy left the scene, guards and protesters exchanged gunshots from more than two hours near the local university.

Jordan has been largely spared the violence that has spread throughout the Muslim world in the Middle East and Libya, but the "chaos and unrest" that the king warned against this week may be around the corner.

“It is obvious that the Hashemite king no longer has any control over the Bedouins who make up his regime's army and security agencies,” Zahran said.

He warned Israel to be prepared to face “a very different Jordan,” explaining that the Arab Spring uprising is fermenting in the Hashemite kingdom. “Bedouin hate the King, the Palestinians and the Israelis,” according to Zahran. Ninety percent of the Jordanian populaton is compromised of Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin, whose huge population is a constant threat to the country's politicians.

Zahran said that the incident three months ago also was downplayed by the kingdom as “skirmishes.” Monday’s official denial of the attack indicates that King Abdullah is showing the same paranoia displayed by Muammar Qaddafi, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad, among others, all of whom have claimed that “protesters” actually were supporters of their regimes.