He wanted political rehabilitation, as well as forgiveness for $700m (pounds 430m) debts, from Washington in return for the treaty. He wanted to insure himself, through American and Israeli friendship, against any threat to his monarchy emanating from an emerging Palestinian state.Three years later, the diplomatic map looks different. The King and the Jordanian political leadership has acquired an almost visceral hatred of Mr Netanyahu. Dislike has grown ever since the Israeli leader failed to tell Jordan of his plan to open a tunnel in Jerusalem last year, which led to 61 Palestinian and 15 Israeli deaths. When Mr Netanyahu refused permission for Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, to fly from Amman to Gaza this month King Hussein slammed the phone down.But there is more to this than Mr Netanyahu’s failings. King Hussein rules as many Palestinians, more than 2 million, in Jordan as there are Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Any strain between the latter and Israel affects Jordan.

King Hussein could not have signed the peace treaty with Israel three years ago if Mr Arafat had not signed the Oslo accords in 1993 Now this process is going into reverse. A crisis between Israel and Mr Arafat means a crisis with Jordan. King Hussein was the only Arab leader to cultivate Mr Netanyahu before the last election, but the Israeli Prime Minister is careless of past obligations. Probably he took King Hussein for granted, thinking him too weak to cause trouble.

But Jordan is closer to the US than it was in 1994 in the wake of the Gulf war. Opposition to Israel in the Arab world is also more popular at every level than in the past.It is also easier for Jordan to get along with the Palestinian leadership. Relations have improved with Mr Arafat because his grip on the West Bank is now so strong he no longer needs to worry that Jordan wants to return there. Palestinian fear that Jordan would re-establish its rule on the West Bank, which it held before 1967, was a constant source of tension.It is easy enough to blame Mr Netanyahu for all this. In the wake of the Naharim massacre many Israelis will hold him responsible for their lives becoming more insecure.