Former Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Al-Bakhit has passed away after a long battle with illness. Al-Bakhit died on Saturday and was buried in his hometown Mahis.
Born in 1945, he originates from the Abbad Jordanian tribe.
Bakhit enrolled in the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army in 1964 and retired in 1999 as a Major General.
He also served as Jordan's ambassador to Türkiye in 2000-2004 and then to Israel.
At the beginning of 2005, Jordan's King Abdullah II summoned him to be the Director of His Office and Director of the Higher National Security Council.
Following the hotel bombings in Amman on November 9, 2005, which killed dozens and were claimed by al-Qaeda, the Jordanian King assigned him to form his first government in 2005-2007.
In this “security” phase, Al-Bakhit disagreed with his allies, including Bassem Awadallah from the diwan and Major General Muhammad al-Dhahabi, the director of the General Intelligence Department. His spontaneity and sincere attempts to face terrorism and economic challenges contradicted their interests and agendas.
Awadallah and Al-Dhahabi are serving sentences in prison over charges of administrative violations during parliamentary and municipality elections in 2007.
During the “Jordanian Spring”, the government of Samir Rifai resigned after 40 days of earning the parliament’s confidence.
The Jordanian King summoned Al-Bakhit and assigned him to form a government. This was the first time the King assigned the same person to form a second cabinet during his term.
The parliament granted him confidence but with humble support.
The late PM sought during his second term to appeal to popular partisan leaders known to be from the opposition under the late King Hussein, and King Abdullah II.
However, his approach worsened the crisis between the government and the people which pushed many MPs to call on the King to dismiss the government.
Al-Bakhit passed away surrounded by his relatives who revealed that he remained committed to his habits of reading and listening to the news.
