Abdullah I of Jordan

Shot on 20 July 1951 at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman; the founder-king died at the door of Friday prayer with his grandson Hussein beside him.

Overview

Abdullah, who had led the Arab Legion into Palestine in 1948 and annexed the West Bank, was suspected by Palestinian nationalists of a separate peace with Israel. At Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa, Mustafa Ashshu, a Jerusalem tailor linked to the Husseini faction, fired at the king from the steps of the Mosque; he died on the spot. His grandson Hussein, at his side, was saved when a bullet struck a medal on his chest. The assassin was killed at the scene; several alleged accomplices were executed in Amman. Talal succeeded briefly before ill health, and Hussein came to the throne in 1952 to rule for nearly half a century. Abdullah murder fixed the centrality of Jerusalem and the Hashemite-Palestinian entanglement in Jordanian politics.