A mainly young crowd of 1,500 people in Amman on Tuesday denounced Israel over its crackdown in Jerusalem, as authorities sought to handle the possible effects of the escalation in Palestine on Jordan.
"Allah salutes Sheikh Jarrah. We die and Palestine remains,” some among the crowd of men and women chanted in the upper-end Rabieh district of the city.
Israeli eviction orders against Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem sparked violence that turned deadly this week, and the threat of another war between Israel and militants in Gaza.
It also threatens a balance Jordan has maintained between established ties with Israel and catering to a population comprising many people of Palestinian origin.
The demonstration in Rabieh, near the Israeli embassy, is in line with a long-standing government approach to let people in Jordan vent their anger every time Israel raises pressure on the Palestinians.
Jordanian authorities allowed several anti-Israeli protests in Amman this week, despite a coronavirus ban on gatherings.
They cracked down on protests demanding the down fall of the government across Jordan in March. The protests followed the deaths of seven coronavirus patients at a public hospital that ran out of oxygen.
Daily pro-Palestinian gatherings at Rabieh started three days ago.
Security troops ring the crowds and have used armoured vehicles in Rabieh to block access to the Israeli embassy and surrounds.
“No peace, no embassy, no ambassador,” people chanted on Tuesday, in reference to the 1994 Wadi Araba peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
Some chanted slogans glorifying the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who fired ballistic missiles on Israel during the Gulf War in 1990 to 1991.
Rashed, a Jordanian university student, said the reference to Saddam was anachronistic. He was wearing a black T-shirt with the word "Palestine" in white Arabic letters.
“Invoking Saddam does not serve the cause," said Rashed, whose family fled to Jordan from the Jenin Woods in the occupied West Bank in the 1960s.
A large proportion of Jordan’s 10 million inhabitants are refugees who fled their homes in Palestine in 1948 and 1967, and their descendants.
In the past few days, Palestinian outrage over the Sheikh Jarrah evictions ended in protests at Al Aqsa Mosque complex, one of the most important sites in Islam, and a crackdown by Israel.
The violence widened after Hamas attacked Israel with rockets and Israel struck Gaza . At least 35 people, mostly Palestinians, were killed.
Jordanian authorities regard Israeli pressure on the Palestinians in the past decade as a threat to Jordan's cohesion, as it could cause another mass migration of refugees.
Jordan's economy is in recession and the political system is partly tied to balances between tribes that underpin support for the monarchy.
The authorities have not made any move to downgrade relations with Israel over the eviction orders in Sheikh Jarrah.
But the kingdom has launched a diplomatic campaign to counter the Israeli moves in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians, and Jordan, regard as indispensable to any future Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in 1967.
King Abdullah of Jordan sent his Foreign Minister, Ayman Al Safadi, to Washington this week.
The king set aside differences with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the Jerusalem issue on Monday.
The two men agreed on the need to “continue to co-ordinate closely to put a limit to the Israeli aggression in East Jerusalem", the official Jordanian news agency said
The Israeli Supreme Court is due to hear a Palestinian appeal against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions in the next 30 days, after the state attorney general requested a hearing that was due on Monday be postponed.
At a meeting of the Arab League on Tuesday, Mr Al Safadi said that Israel would be committing a war crime if it evicted Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah.
Mr Al Safadi said that the "Palestinian citizens in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem have a clear right to their homes."
"Depriving them from this right would be a war crime that the international community must stop," he said. "Israel is playing with fire.”
A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software Publisher: Activision Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S Rating: 3.5/5
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.
Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.
Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.
Favourite colour: Black.
Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.
