JORDAN: Some 2,000 protesters demonstrate in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman over the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers

Record ID: 398234

  • Title: JORDAN: Some 2,000 protesters demonstrate in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman over the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers
  • Date: 14th March 2014
  • Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (MARCH 14, 2014) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS AT MOSQUE YARD PROTESTERS CARRYING A SYMBOLIC COFFIN AND CHANTING LINE OF JORDANIAN RIOT POLICE JORDANIAN RIOT POLICE AND ARMOURED VEHICLES BANNER SHOWING BOTH KILLED JORDANIAN JUDGE RAED ZEITER AND JORDANIAN PRISONER AHMED AL DAQAMSEH MORE JORDANIAN POLICE VEHICLES AND OFFICERS PROTESTERS CLAPPING AND CHANTING MORE JORDA
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1VPID38G6QNFAR6AY6M6C14Q
  • Story Text: Around 2,000 Jordanian protesters gathered in Amman after Friday prayers (March 14) near the Israeli embassy, demanding the ambassador be expelled following the killing of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers earlier this week.
    Judge Raed Zeiter was killed on Monday (March 10) at the Allenby Bridge crossing while he was making his way to the occupied West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon expressed regret over the killing. But hours earlier, the Israeli military had issued a statement denouncing Zeiter as a "terrorist", saying he was killed after attacking security personnel with a metal bar, trying to seize a gun and attempting to strangle a soldier.
    On Friday, there were minor scuffles between riot police and protesters during the demonstration in Al Rabyieh district, including the burning of the Israeli flag.
    One Islamic leader at the protest called for a peace treaty with Israel to be scrapped and Jews expelled from Jordanian land.

    "We only accept the end of the Wadi Araba treaty (with Israel) and the expelling of the Israeli ambassador and we do not accept less than that. That Jews are the enemies of this nation due the killing of Raed Zeiter, and it's having a presence on the Jordanian land. That's why we are asking for a real reaction and not only empty words," said Islamic Brotherhood leader Hamam Saeed.
    Members of several other Jordanian parties also gathered in front of Al Qalouti Mosque, while minor clashes took place between protesters and Jordanian police who were trying to stop them reaching the Israeli embassy nearby.
    Born in the Palestinian Territories, Zeiter, 38, had a doctorate in international law and worked as a judge in an Amman magistrates court. He was married and had two young children. He was buried on Tuesday (March 11) in the West Bank city of Nablus, where his family came from, his body wrapped in both a Palestinian and a Jordanian flag.
    Jordan is one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, and this latest incident follows official Jordanian protests last month over an inconclusive parliamentary debate in Israel over a bill calling on Israel to establish its sovereignty over Islam's revered al Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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