[rightwingcrazy]

I suspect Israel is even poorer in terms of natural resources, but with a spectacularly different outcome.

Agree RE the king of Jordan. His influence is constrained, though, by the need to please a complex combination of interests, foreign and domestic.

[Alberta's Child]

Good point. I'm counting Israel's access to the Mediterranean Sea as a "natural resource" because of its enormous benefits for trade.

Jordan is almost completely landlocked, and their only port (Aqaba) is on the Red Sea with limited depth and a very small harbor.

This has huge implications for a nation's GDP.