Shut Israel Embassy, Jordanians demand

ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA
Thursday 15 September 2011

AMMAN: About 2,000 Jordanians demonstrated outside the Kaluti Mosque in Rabia neighborhood here Thursday night urging the closure of the Israeli Embassy and the abrogation of the peace treaty with Israel.

The security authorities cordoned off the area and set up metal barricades outside the mosque to prevent protesters from proceeding to the Israeli mission which was earlier evacuated of its staff by the Israeli government.

Participants, mainly belonging to the Islamic-led opposition, trade unions and Pan-Arab groups, chanted slogans and raised placards urging the government to cancel the peace pact Jordan signed with the Zionist state in 1994.

Activists earlier called on Facebook for a demonstration of one million participants, but the call apparently failed possibly because of unprecedented security measures taken by the authorities.

One of the slogans during the protest was: “The Qur’an is our constitution and Jihad is our path.”

Another slogan was: “No to the alternative homeland and we are going to burn Israel.”

The slogan referred to suggestions by extremist Israeli politicians for the setting up of a homeland for Palestinians in Jordan instead of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The grudge against Israel is rapidly building up in the country because of its crimes in Palestine and elsewhere,” said Hamzeh Mansour, secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front, the country’s main opposition party.

“The Jordanian people are against the establishment of normal ties with this enemy,” he told Arab News.

Responding to Israel’s decision to evacuate the embassy in Amman, Mansour said: “The Zionist enemy is feeling further isolation as a result of the Arab Spring.”

“It also feels that its existence is no longer safe and stable, particularly after what happened in Cairo last week,” he added.

Thursday’s rally found inspiration from a demonstration in Cairo that ended last Friday when the Israeli diplomatic mission was stormed and the staff was evacuated by commandos.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://www.arabnews.com/node/391152.