Jordanians to rally for Palestinian state

Fri Sep 23, 2011

Hundreds of Jordanians are set to hold a rally in the capital, Amman, to voice their support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The demonstrators will also condemn the US for pledging to veto the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN Security Council.

Demonstration organizers, the National and Youth Movements, have also called on Jordanians to rally against what they called unfair and corrupt government, lack of political freedom and the slow pace of social reforms in the country.

Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas is expected to submit the Palestinian request for membership to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after addressing the General Assembly on Friday.

If Ban decides the request is in order, the Security Council will examine and vote on the bid. In order to pass, the bid will need the backing of nine out of 15 council members, with no vetoes from permanent members.

The future Palestinian state would include the West Bank and Gaza, with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital. The PA says it believes that more than 130 countries would recognize the state of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders.

Israel and the US strongly oppose the Palestinian move. Washington, which supports Tel Aviv's position, claims that a Palestinian state can only be achieved through talks with Israel.

Some reports, however, suggest that Israel and the US are trying to turn Jordan into a homeland for Palestinian refugees, which has angered Jordanians.

On Thursday, Jordan's parliament condemned remarks by an Israeli lawmaker proposing Jordan as an alternative homeland for Palestinian refugees and urged the government to officially protest to the Israeli ambassador over such "offence.”

In 1948, Israel expelled more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

Currently, there are an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.

Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200776.html.