Jordan rallies in support of Palestine

Jordanians have taken to the streets in the capital, Amman, and called for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.

Heeding a call from Palestinian Facebook organizers, Jordanians marched on Friday to mark the 63rd anniversary of the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis, which Palestinians call “Nakba Day.”

Waving Palestinian flags and holding keys to family homes left behind, the marchers also demanded that Palestinian refugees be given the right to return to their homeland.

“We want to tell the world that Palestine and its refugees are not to be forgotten. It’s time the world recognizes that the Palestinian case has to be solved once and for all,” AP quoted a dentistry student Omar Hassan as saying.

The demonstrators also urged Amman to end its diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and expel the Israeli ambassador.

“The people want to end Wadi Araba,” they shouted referring to Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

On May 15, 1948 Israeli forces displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different neighboring countries.

Israeli soldiers also wiped nearly 500 Palestinian villages and towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of 4.7 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants dreaming of an eventual return to their ancestral homeland more than six decades later.
Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees.