JORDAN: Around a hundred people gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Amman calling for it to be closed and also for the abolition of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty

Record ID: 396304

  • Title: JORDAN: Around a hundred people gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Amman calling for it to be closed and also for the abolition of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty
  • Date: 16th September 2011
  • Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (SEPTEMBER 15, 2011) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS SECURITY POLICE SPREAD AROUND THE EMBASSY VARIOUS PROTESTERS PROTESTERS BURNING OF THE ISRAELI FLAG BANNER READING: "NO ISRAELI EMBASSY ON THE LAND OF JORDAN" BANNDER READING: "PEOPLE WANT TO BRING DOWN THE WADI ARABA TREATY" VARIOUS DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS WOMEN AT THE DEMONSTRATION (SOUNDBITE) (Ar
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan, Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Reuters ID: LVABC6Z20Y4DUKWP4XFK2XUBQ55Z
  • Story Text: Several hundred Jordanian protesters on Thursday (September 15) called on their government to close the Israeli embassy in Amman and scrap an unpopular peace treaty with the Jewish state.
    Dozens of demonstrators chanting: "No Zionist embassy on Arab land" gathered near a mosque in the Rabia district of the Jordanian capital close to the Israeli embassy.
    Scores of police blocked roads to the embassy complex to prevent protesters from marching to the heavily protected mission.
    The protesters, a mix of leftist, liberal and Islamist opposition activists, chanted slogans urging the authorities to sever diplomatic ties with neighbouring Israel.
    "The Jordanian attitude of the Convention of Wadi Araba, and also towards the relationship between the Jordanian government and the Zionist entity, is rejected by the masses of our people and it's our right to reject the occupation and our right to purge our land from the enemy, the usurper. And we reject their embassy here in Jordan, as well as the diplomatic and economic relations with them," said protester Dr Ahmad Armouty, referring to the country's peace accord with Israel signed in 1994, the second that was concluded by an Arab country with Israel after Egypt's own deal in 1979.
    Jordan has long maintained close security cooperation with Israel but has been critical of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians and fears a spillover of violence if Israel does not broker peace with the Palestinians.
    The call for large scale protests organised on Facebook this week prompted Israel to temporarily withdraw its ambassador to Jordan. Israeli diplomatic sources said Ambassador Daniel Nevo and his senior staff, who routinely spend weekends in Israel, were brought back early In Egypt, the Israeli embassy was stormed by demonstrators on Saturday, forcing its evacuation. The countries are in talks on reactivating the Cairo mission.
    Most of Jordan's seven million citizens are of Palestinian origin and have close family ties with their kin on the other side of the Jordan River.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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