On July 25, 1994, near the end of my summer term in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein signed a momentous declaration to begin peace negotiations between the two countries. A week later, as we students were outside enjoying a barbecue dinner at the Jerusalem Center, a Jordanian airplane, accompanied by two Israeli fighter jets, circled low over Jerusalem multiple times and then headed east to Jordan. (We later learned that the Jordanian plane was a royal jetliner and was piloted by King Hussein himself.) Everyone at the Center who witnessed this historic flight was electrified. I recall that our Palestinian cooks got very worked up about it, yelling to each other to “Come, see!” The students were cheering and whooping as well.
The feelings in that moment were of overwhelming optimism for peace. In the decades since that exciting day, as I have watched the many disappointments and setbacks in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East, I have held onto the memory of the hopefulness of that moment. I am certain that most people still retain a hope and desire for peace in that volatile region of the world.
This story was written by Brita Brown Engh who was a student summer of 1994.
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The New York Times reported on August 4, 1994 in an article titled, “Jerusalem? Shalom! Do You Copy?”
“Accompanied by an Israeli fighter jet escort and a blaze of official publicity, King Hussein of Jordan flew over Israel today, passing over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem on his way home to Amman from Europe.
“The flyover, announced to Israelis by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s office, was an attempt to show how quickly changes were going into effect after the signing in Washington last week of a declaration that formally ended the state of war between Jordan and Israel.
“Escorted by three Israeli F-15 fighters, the King’s plane passed over Tel Aviv and circled Jerusalem at a low altitude, passing twice over Al Aksa Mosque and the gilded Dome of the Rock before heading out toward Jordan.”
Read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/04/world/jerusalem-shalom-do-you-copy.html
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