Jordanians Reject Eviction of Palestinians in Jerusalem

Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated Friday in Amman against the Israeli state's threat to evict Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

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After the traditional weekly prayer, people gathered in front of the Al Husseini Mosque chanting slogans calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the withdrawal of Jordan from the peace agreement signed with the Jewish state in 1994.

"We are here to express our full support to the Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah," Jordanian lawmaker Saleh Armouti said and reproached the silence of Arab countries on this crime.

Shortly before, using social media, Jordan's Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi called on the international community to prevent Israeli plans to evict families in the midst of the pandemic.

"The Israeli step is playing with fire dangerously and is a crime that the world should react to prevent," he said.

The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, called on Israel not to violate international law and to suspend the evictions.

"East Jerusalem is part of the occupied Palestinian territories where humanitarian law applies," he said and recalled that "the occupying power must respect and not confiscate private property."

On Thursday, Spain, Germany, France, and Italy also criticized the Sheikh Jarrah eviction and the construction of 540 homes in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. In a joint statement, these countries pointed out that Israel is undermining efforts to rebuild trust between its citizens and Palestinians.