For decades, American officials described the rulers of Egypt and Jordan as linchpins of regional stability. They made peace with Israel (in 1979 and 1994, respectively). They mostly avoided wars, coups and revolutions.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II once again rejected any mass displacement of Palestinians after meeting with President Donald Trump, who has called for the Gaza Strip’s roughly 2 million residents to be removed from the war-ravaged territory.

Arab countries were dismayed earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to "clean out" Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, an idea immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.

As I viewed the recent press conference with Jordanian King Abdullah II and President Donald Trump, I couldn’t help but reflect on the history of Jordan and the king’s namesake and great-grandfather,