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AMMAN, Jordan – Heeding a call from Palestinian Facebook organizers, several hundred Jordanians took to the streets of the capital Friday demanding a sovereign Palestinian state and that refugees be given the right to return home.
Palestinian youth groups called for protests in the West Bank and nearby Arab countries to mark the anniversary of the May 15, 1948, creation of the Jewish state.
Palestinians call the anniversary the "day of catastrophe" because of the refugee crisis that accompanied the creation of Israel.
About 500 protesters marched in Amman's downtown market district, some wearing Palestinian black and white kefiyahs or headscarves and holding keys to family homes left behind.
Jordanians and demonstrators of Palestinian origin also demanded that the Israeli ambassador be sent home.
Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.
In Cairo, thousands rallied in support of the Palestinians, beginning a Facebook-generated campaign aimed at marching on the borders of the Palestinian territories.
Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood backed Friday's demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square but does not favor a march to the borders. On Thursday Egypt's ruling Military Council called on organizers to cancel the march and to concentrate instead on local issues.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not unusual in Jordan or Egypt, but gatherings and marches solicited on Facebook are. Organizers are apparently inspired by the Arab uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries that were heavily dependent on social network sites.
Palestinian youth groups called for protests in the West Bank and nearby Arab countries to mark the anniversary of the May 15, 1948, creation of the Jewish state.
Palestinians call the anniversary the "day of catastrophe" because of the refugee crisis that accompanied the creation of Israel.
About 500 protesters marched in Amman's downtown market district, some wearing Palestinian black and white kefiyahs or headscarves and holding keys to family homes left behind.
Jordanians and demonstrators of Palestinian origin also demanded that the Israeli ambassador be sent home.
Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.
In Cairo, thousands rallied in support of the Palestinians, beginning a Facebook-generated campaign aimed at marching on the borders of the Palestinian territories.
Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood backed Friday's demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square but does not favor a march to the borders. On Thursday Egypt's ruling Military Council called on organizers to cancel the march and to concentrate instead on local issues.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not unusual in Jordan or Egypt, but gatherings and marches solicited on Facebook are. Organizers are apparently inspired by the Arab uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries that were heavily dependent on social network sites.
