1935- . King of Jordan from 1952.
Great-grandson of Hussein ibn Ali, he became
king after the mental incapacity of his
father Talal. By 1967 he had lost all his
kingdom west of the Jordan river in the
Arab-Israeli Wars, and in 1970 suppressed the
Palestine Liberation Organization acting as a
guerrilla force against his rule on the
remaining East Bank territories. In recent
years, he has become a moderating force in
Middle Eastern politics.