Jordan's relationship with Israel remains uneasy but tolerable, though bloody raids and acts of terrorism carried out by both sides add to the tension.

Jordan's involvement in the Palestinian question has led as much to a contest with Egypt over Jordan's future as it has to a struggle with Israel.

In particular, it has repeatedly forced Jordan to balance relations with and between various Arab nations, the Palestinians, and the West and Israel.

Thus, popular demonstrations, especially in the West Bank, and pressure from Egypt prevent King Hussein in 1955 from signing the U. S.-sponsored Baghdad Pact, a pro-Western mutual defense treaty that he has initiated between Great Britain, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. (The history of Jordan after 1953 will be largely shaped by King Hussein's policies to secure his throne and to retain or regain the West Bank for the Hashemite dynasty.)