Jordan’s Abdullah to name his 9-year son crown prince, sack Hazme

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has been hyperactive on the Palestinian issue in the last few days, announcing “new initiatives,” to draw attention from his highly controversial royal decision which has taken Amman by storm.
According to debkafile‘s Middle East sources, the king is about to appoint his 9-year old son, Hussein, crown prince, after summarily sacking from the post his 27-year old half-brother Prince Hazme, son of the late King Hussein and US-born Queen Noor who lives in America.
On top of other royal family upsets, this decision has aroused a major to-do at court as well as opposition in Jordan’s government and military elite. They fear Abdullah has plunged the kingdom into a period of instability and criticize his appointment of a young child as first in line to the throne as inappropriate and irresponsible.
They also accuse him of breaking a deathbed promise to his father.
When King Hussein knew he was dying of cancer in 1999, he pulled the post of crown prince from his brother, Prince Hassan, and passed it to his own son, Abdullah, against a pledge to appoint Prince Hamze next in line to the throne.