Jordan protesters unite to demand Israel envoy's ouster

Jordan protesters unite to demand Israel envoy's ouster
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held angry protests on in Amman demanding an end to Jordan's peace treaty with Israel, following clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Jerusalem.

2 min read
The protesters were kept back from the embassy (Getty)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held angry protests on Monday in Amman demanding an end to Jordan's peace treaty with Israel, following events in Jerusalem.

Waving Palestinian and Jordanian flags, a crowd of over 1,500 people including both Islamist party supporters and leftist activists demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

The protesters were kept back from the embassy and behind a security cordon.

They carried banners reading: "No embassy, no ambassador" and "what was taken by force can only be returned by force".

Jordan's 1994 treaty with the Jewish state was "not peace, it's capitulation", they chanted. 

"Expel the embassy, expel the ambassador!"

Some also burnt an Israeli flag to cries of "death to Israel".

Dima al-Khatib, a 24-year-old student, said the demonstration was "a message of support for the Palestinian people. We salute their struggle and steadfastness... in defence of Jerusalem".

In a meeting with European Union ambassadors to Amman, interim Foreign Minister Ali al-Ayed condemned "brutal aggression... of (Israeli) police and special forces" at the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City in East Jerusalem.

Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians rocked the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Monday, leaving at least 300 wounded after days of escalating violence.

The violence, coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has also been fuelled by a dispute between Palestinian families and Jewish settlers over land in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

Later Monday, Islamist movement Hamas on Monday fired rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip after warning the Jewish state to pull out its security forces from the mosque compound.

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