When the video of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh was circulated Feb. 3, Jordan TV cut its regular broadcast to update Jordanians and provide some comfort to a grieving nation. The first interview conducted by a military official after the announcement of the news was with the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Mohammad Hussein. Sheikh Hussein, who's also the Palestinian mufti, provided words of solace and comfort while at the same time forcefully arguing in other interviews that the act of burning alive a prisoner is an abomination to Islam.
The fact that the official Jordanian TV turned to a Palestinian religious official and the ensuing enormous support by Palestinians to Jordan illustrates the sea change that has taken place between Palestinians and Jordanians over the past decades. What once was a fatal relationship that was highlighted by a short-lived bloody Black September in 1970 between the Jordanian army and PLO guerrillas has long been forgotten and has been replaced by mutual trust and solidarity between the two neighboring populations. Jordan accused PLO fighters of trying to overcome the kingdom, while Palestinians blamed Jordan for the loss of the West Bank and inability to end the Israeli occupation of what was part of the Hashemite kingdom.