The L in ISIL is Levant-and the Really Important Jordanian King from WWI's End

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

What does Levant mean?  It's not in the Webster's 7th New Collegiate dictionary that I use every day copyrighted 1966.  They do have "levanter", though, meaning "a native or inhabitant of the Levant."  ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Levant is a geographical term.  When it first appeared in 1497 in English it just meant the East.  or the Mediterranean lands east of Italy.  This happened after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 when Jews in Spain had to flee for their lives or convert to Christianity.  It comes from French levant meaning rising, in talking about the rising of the sun in the East, where the sun rises.  This came from Latin levare, meaning lift or raise.A satellite view of part of the Levant includes Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, Judea and Samaria, Jordan and southern Syria.

Today it is taking on  more meaning than it had been used in archaeology and literature.  People are using it as a category of analysis in political and social sciences.  Two academic journals have just come out; Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the Levantine Review, published by Boston College.
                                                                               

Baghdadi 

Evidently it's also being used by the leader of ISIS, Baghdadi, who claimed the name of his caliphate was ISIL and who has now shortened it to IS, but Obama keeps referring it to ISIL.  Why? Baghdadi's proclamation of his caliphate claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world and aims to bring most of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control beginning with territory in the Levant region which includes Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and part of southern Turkey.  Of course Iraq is included with the "I" which also stands for "Islamic."  ISIL includes Israel as one of their goals to take.

Baghdadi does not approve of the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 at the end of WWI when these countries were created, except for Syria, which has always been there and with the name of Syria as well as Aleppo and Damascus.  It was finally approved in April 1920 at the San Remo Conference when the mandate went to Britain for Palestine. France ruled the northern part of Britain's domain in Lebanon and Syria for a period of years.
                                                                     

                                           Sherif Hussein bin Ali served from 1908 to 1917
"When the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, he further proclaimed himself Caliph of all Muslims. 

As a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad the British recognised this status."

The division of land was known to the Grand Sharif of Mecca.  He had 2 sons; Faisal and Abdullah.  Faisal had a short reign as king of Iraq but was ousted by the French.  Abdullah became King of Transjordan and it changed to be called Jordan.

• King Hussein bin Ali (1916–1924) (previously Hussein Pasha)
• King Ali bin Hussein (1924–1925)
• "was the Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 until 1917, when he proclaimed himself and was internationally recognized as King of the Kingdom of Hejaz. He initiated the Arab Revolt in 1916 against the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman Empire during the course of the First World War. In 1924, when the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, he further proclaimed himself Caliph of all Muslims. He ruled Hejaz (Saudi Arabia ruled by Hashemite dynasty)  until 1924, when, defeated by Abdul Aziz al Saud, he abdicated the kingdom and other secular titles to his eldest son Ali."  
• 
  
• This means that since the Grand Sharif had lost Saudi Arabia, the British appeased him by giving him Transjordan after having promised this piece of land to become 80% of the Jewish Homeland.  

Israel must be forever watchful that this Baghdadi does not have his way and take Israel along with the other states he covets.  Hopefully the coalition of 50 states will stop his advances.  Jordan has joined the coalition in bombing IS buildings where most of them have already been given a lot of advance warning and have turned tail and run into the nearby villages, hiding among those people.  

                                                                             

                                                               King Faisal 

                              King of Syria from March 8, 1920 to July 24, 1920

    King of Iraq from August 23, 1921 to September 8, 1933 when he died in Bern, Switzerland

                                                                             

                                     Dr. Chaim Weizmann on left with King Faisal signing agreement.                                      
                                                                               

King Abdullah

King Abdullah I  of Transjordan from April 1, 1921

of Jordan from1946-1951

Abdullah's son, Talal, King of Jordan from 1951-1952, resigned from illness

                                                                         

       King Hussein, Talal's son, of Jordan reigned from August 11, 1952 to February 7, 1999

                                                                         

 King Abdullah II of Jordan, son of King Hussein,  reigning started February 7, 1999 to present (picture caught at conference).

Jordan's last attack on Israel was when they joined the other Arabs and attacked in 1973.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant
Writer: Victor Sharpe
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sykes_pico.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Hejaz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_bin_Ali,_Sharif_of_Mecca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talal_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan