The land was given to the Emir by the British. Abdullah hoped to have the Jews help develop his country economically and he promised to protect them personally.
The antisemitic Mufti of Jerusalem went nuts, and threatened the Emir, scuttling the deal. From JTA, January 26, 1933:
Submitting to the pressure of the Palestine government and Arab leaders, Emir Abdullah today announced the cancellation of the agreement to lease 70,000 dunams of his personal domain for Jewish settlement, the reports of which have been agitating Jewish and Arab circles for the past fortnight.The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin el Husseini, is believed to have played an important role in bringing about the cancellation of the lease as the Emir’s action follows on the heels of the Grand Mufti’s visit to him in Amman yesterday.E### Abdullah’s cancellation of the lease is in line with the demands of Arab nationalists in Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, who have threatened him with reprisals. The Istiklal, Arab Independent Party, had threatened to overthrow him unless the agreement with the Jews were rescinded.The difficult economic situation in Transjordan was the reason given for Emir Abdullah’s lease of his land.
Since the dawn of Zionism, brave Arabs have knows that it makes sense to cooperate with the Jews and that together they can prosper. But the number of Arabs brave enough to deal with the majority of people who are antisemitic is diminishingly small - the Abraham Accords is the example that proves the rule.
When it comes down to it, the same "shame" approach to bully leaders into treating Jews as pariahs is happening today, among members of the so-called "progressive" movement.
