The demonstrations were staged this Friday under the slogan “The
people: The source of powers” and meant to coincide with the lower house’s
debate of amendments recently proposed to the constitution by a royal panel,
and which were rejected by the opposition as inadequate.
Protesters also called for the closure of the Israeli Embassy
in Amman and lashed out at the US Embassy in Amman for allegedly supporting the
creation of an “alternative homeland” for Palestinians in Jordan.
Dozens of activists staged a protest outside the Grand
Husseini Mosque in central Amman after Friday prayers.
Similar demonstrations were also reported in the cities of
Thiban, Tafileh, Salt, Karak, Jerash and Irbid, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters Israel’s ambassador to
Jordan returned to Amman on Friday after he was temporarily withdrawn over
fears that demonstrations outside the embassy would turn violent, a Foreign Ministry
spokesman said.
Hundreds of Jordanian protesters demanded on Thursday their
government close the mission and scrap a peace treaty with Israel. Police
blocked roads to the embassy complex to prevent the demonstrators from marching
to the heavily protected site, the Reuters said.
Israel decided to pull out ambassador Daniel Nevo after
crowds stormed its embassy in Cairo last Saturday, forcing most of its diplomats
to flee Egypt.
Jordan has long maintained close security cooperation with
Israel but has criticized Israeli treatment of Palestinians and fears a
spillover of violence if Israel does not make peace with the Palestinians.
Jordan’s King Abdallah was widely quoted as saying earlier
this week that Jordan and the Palestinians were now in a stronger position than
Israel, telling a group of academics that the Arab uprisings this year had
weakened Israel’s position.
Israel’s Haaertz newspaper reported on Friday that his
unusually strong rebuke of the Jewish state was provoked by comments from an
Israeli major general, Uzi Dayan, who told a conference on Sunday that Jordan
should absorb the West Bank and Gaza Strip, doing away with the notion of a
Palestinian state.
