IT’S become a ritual for 35-year-old Anas Nayef: Every night he and several friends drive an hour and a half to a well-appointed neighbourhood in Jordan’s capital a mile from the Israeli Embassy – as close as authorities will allow. They join thousands in pro-Palestinian demonstrations that eventually end in low-grade tussles with security forces.“Normalisation is ...,” bellows Nayef. “Treason,” the crowd replies.
The normalisation of relations with Israel in 1994 has always been deeply unpopular in Jordan. Still, the agreement has kept the peace and allowed for economic cooperation on water, natural gas and electricity. The war threatens to upend all that. In interviews, Jordan’s Queen Rania – who is of Palestinian origin – has accused Israel of genocide while King Abdullah II has castigated the West for double standards when it comes to Palestinian lives. Meanwhile, Jordan spearheaded airdrops of aid into Gaza, with King Abdullah donning a military uniform and getting on a C-130 plane to deliver the assistance.
Others accuse the Jordanian government of helping the UAE and Israel conduct trade in the face of a Red Sea blockade by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Goods travel overland through Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Critics also rebuke Jordan’s government for stationing soldiers along its border with Israel and police near the Israel Embassy.
A coffee shop worker and university student named Jasser joins the conversation, straining to make himself heard above the noise of the crowd: “These protests are the least we can do, to show the people of Gaza that we too are besieged by the authorities and wish we were with them.” Those fears have only been strengthened by calls from Hamas leaders for Jordanians to rise up and fight against Israel, along with a statement last week from the head of the Iraqi Shiite militant group Kataib Hezbollah saying it was ready to arm 12,000 Jordanians to help disrupt trade between the UAE and Israel.