Tear gas fired as Palestine supporters storm Jordan-Israel border

In the midst of the intensifying Gaza conflict, Jordanian riot police were forced to take action as hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempted to reach the border zone adjacent to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reports indicate that the police resorted to using tear gas to halt the progress of approximately 500 protesters who had reached a security checkpoint outside the Jordanian capital, Amman. The interior ministry had issued a ban against conducting anti-Israel marches in the sensitive border area, restricting access to the Jordan River valley for protesters. However, licensed protests were allowed in other regions. This surge of Arab outrage directed against Israel, in response to its siege and bombardment of Gaza as retaliation for a devastating cross-border Hamas attack, triggered significant rallies throughout Jordan, not just on the border. Thousands of protesters near downtown Amman chanted slogans in support of Hamas and voiced demands for the government to close the Israeli embassy and annul the 1994 peace treaty with Israel. Today’s unrest fell on the ‘Day of Jihad,’ called for by former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal