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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Books Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Jordan's fury
By Lola KeilaniNowhere in the Arab world outside of Palestine is the fury against Israel's recent actions as intense as it is in Jordan. Thousands of demonstrators, representing a cross-section of Jordanian society, took to the streets calling for a Jihad against Israel. Bedouin, farmers, Circassians and Druze have all expressed their rage at the actions of the neighbouring state.
King Abdullah, who was hosting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has no doubt taken the intensity of demonstrators anger as a pointer to the upheaval that Jordan would face if a peace agreement is concluded that is deemed unfair to the Palestinians.
Demonstrations took place in several parts of Amman and its suburbs, prompting the government to impose a ban on all public rallies. On Monday, police clashed with university students when they violated the order by attempting to march to the Israeli embassy in Amman. More than 200 rallies were held during the week and 70 arrests were made.
Palestinians in Jordan, comprising the majority of the country's 4.6-million population, were out in force throughout last week. Security forces were on alert after dispersing Palestinian protesters at Al-Beqaa refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman with tear-gas and bullets fired into the air on Friday. One Palestinian man was shot dead in the riots, in an incident police say they are investigating.
The Jordanian government has condemned Israel's handling of the Palestinian protests that erupted after hawkish Israeli politician Ariel Sharon, who has made no secret of his hatred for Palestinians, visited Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Arab East Jerusalem on 28 September.
Matching its words with action, the government has delayed dispatching Abdullah Kurdi, its ambassador-designate to Israel, in protest against the country's brutal repression of Palestinian protesters in the West Bank and Gaza, an official source said. Kurdi was scheduled to assume his post in Tel Aviv this week, but "the developments [in the West Bank and Gaza Strip] have prompted the delay," said the source. "The government decided it was inappropriate to send him given the ongoing confrontations between the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinians," he added.
One Palestinian was killed after demonstrations turned violent in Jordan
(photo:AFP, AP, Reuters)
Since the violence in the West Bank and Gaza began last week, the Jordanian public has repeatedly urged the government to expel the recently-appointed Israeli Ambassador to Jordan, David Dadon.
Some 100 police and nearly a dozen armoured vehicles were deployed outside the residence of the Israeli ambassador in the affluent neighbourhood of Abdoun, near the US Embassy. A cabinet statement issued on Saturday said protests have seen "acts of sabotage by irresponsible parties," making a clear reference to opposition leader Leith Shubeilat who led his followers in a march on the Israeli Embassy in the posh area of Rabia-Amman.
The Muslim Brotherhood, often described as the best organised group in Jordan, has used rallies to press its own demands. During Brotherhood-led demonstrations, protesters called on the government to lift the ban on Hamas and allow four of its leaders expelled to Qatar last year to return to Jordan. "Hamas, you are the gun, we are the bullets," was the slogan shouted at these rallies.
Jordanian responsiveness to any development in the Palestinian struggle across the River Jordan was highlighted by reports that a 12-year-old Jordanian boy ran away from home to "fight Israeli soldiers." Having taken with him kitchen knives and 10 dinars (US$14), Mahmoud Hamdan Noeirat was found in the Jordan Valley and brought back home. In a letter he had left for his family to explain his absence, Noeirat said, "I am going to be a martyr. Please, mother and father, forgive me. Because of my Muslim conscience I could not sit back and watch the Jews while they were shooting Muslims like someone shooting birds."
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