Jordanians mourn State of Israel's creation

May 16, 2011

AMMAN: Jordanian police fired tear gas Sunday to disperse hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who had gathered at a border village with Israel to mourn the creation of the state of Israel, witnesses said.

The incident occurred hours after Israeli forces opened fire at border locations in Syria and Lebanon to prevent crowds of demonstrators from crossing Israeli frontier lines, in the deadliest such confrontation in years.

At least six people were injured as Jordanian police barred 500 people from marching on Israel’s border, an AFP reporter said.

The demonstrators, including some 200 students, were intercepted a few kilometers from the King Hussein crossing, or Allenby Bridge, on the Jordan River that defines the frontier with Israel, less than an hour’s drive from Amman.

They headed to the nearby town of Karameh, where they held a demonstration and clashed with riot police, who cordoned off the protesters and prevented them reaching the border.

“The people want to liberate Palestine. We are ready to die for Jerusalem. The right of return is sacred,” the students chanted earlier outside Al-Kaluti Mosque near the Israeli Embassy in Amman.

Waving Jordanian and Palestinian flags, the students sang national songs and carried banners reading “Palestine is Arab. Together we will return.”

Police Saturday prevented a group of students calling themselves “the May 15 Youths” from marching on the border with Israel.

About 10,000 people gathered in the Jordan Valley town of Karameh Friday to mark the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation in Arabic, while 700 marched chanting “Palestine, Palestine, the refugees promise to return to you!”

Jordan, where nearly half the 6.3 million population is of Palestinian origin, signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/May-16/Jordanians-mourn-State-of-Israels-creation.ashx.