ndependent sovereign kingdom. The Parliament of Transjordan proclaimed King Abdullah as the first King. The country's name was later changed from Transjordan to Jordan.
On 24 April 1950, Jordan formally annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem, an act that was regarded as illegal and void by the Arab League. The move formed part of Jordan’s "Greater Syria Plan" expansionist policy, and in response, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria joined Egypt in demanding Jordan’s expulsion from the Arab League. A motion to expel Jordan from the League was prevented by the dissenting votes of Yemen and Iraq. On 12 June 1950, the Arab League declared the annexation was a temporary, practical measure and that Jordan was holding the territory as a “trustee” pending a future settlement. On 27 July 1953, King Hussein of Jordan announced that East Jerusalem was "the alternative capital of the Hashemite Kingdom" and would form an "integral and inseparable part" of Jordan.
Abdullah I was assassinated in 1951 by a Palestinian militant Mustafa Ashu, of the jihad al-muqaddas, as he was leaving the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The reason for his murder was allegedly the power rivalry of the al-Husseinis over control of Palestine, which was declared a part of the Hashemite Kingdom by Adbullah I. Though Amin al-Husseini, former mufti of Jerusalem, was not directly charged in the plot, Musa al-Husseini was among the 6 executed by Jordanian authorities, following the assassination.
Under King Hussein
Jordan, which became a founding member of the Arab League in 1945 and gained independence in 1946, joined the United Nations in 1955. In 1957 it terminated the Anglo-Jordan treaty, one year after the king sacked the British personnel serving in the Jordanian Army. This act of Arabization ensured the complete sovereignty of Jordan as a fully independent nation.
In May 1967, Jordan signed a military pact with Egypt. In June 1967, it joined Egypt, Syria
