Jordan Protesters, Police Clash at Rally Against Gaza Operation

By Massoud A. Derhally

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters and anti-riot police clashed near the Israeli Embassy in Jordan during a demonstration against Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people joined the rally today in the Rabyeh area of the capital, Amman. The protest was aired by Jordanian television and al-Jazeera, which showed police using water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds that gathered near the embassy, which was closed for the weekend.

Demonstrators wearing the Palestinians’ traditional black- and-white checked scarf took to the streets of the capital and the kingdom’s governates of Karak, Ajloun and Irbid, according to local state-run television. They carried the green flag of Hamas and the Palestinian and Jordanian national flags.

Jordanians and Palestinians in Amman have protested the operation in Gaza almost every day since it began with air strikes on Dec. 27, calling on the kingdom’s government to expel Israel’s ambassador and sever ties with the neighboring country.

Jordan became the second Arab country to sign a treaty with Israel in 1994. Egypt and Israel signed a peace accord in 1979.

At least 780 Palestinians have died in the Gaza conflict and 3,200 have been wounded, according to the emergency medical services department in the enclave. About half the Palestinian casualties have been among civilians, said Mu’awia Hassanein, head of the department. Twelve Israelis have died, including nine soldiers killed in Gaza, three of them yesterday.

Israel began a ground operation Jan. 3 after a week of aerial bombardment aimed at stopping militants from firing missiles into the south of the country from the Gaza Strip. A six-month cease-fire with Hamas expired Dec. 19.

Protesters took to the streets this week in Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Turkey, Yemen and several European capitals as Israel intensified its Gaza ground action, supported by the air force and navy.