Jordanians march in solidarity with Palestinian 'day of rage'

“Earlier on Friday in the West Bank, suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old child and seriously injuring his parents and older brother”.

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JERUSALEM POST – Hundreds of Jordanian men and women took to the streets of the capital city Amman in support of a “day of rage” planned in the Palestinian territories on Friday.

Protests had been planned in the West Bank against what many Palestinians feel is Israeli encroachment on al-Aksa mosque in Jerusalem.

Masked rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli police using stun grenades clashed on Sunday at al-Aksa mosque plaza, on the annual Jewish day of mourning for Jerusalem’s two destroyed Biblical temples.

No serious injuries were reported at the site, which lies in the Old City and is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount where two temples once stood.

Violence at the site has flared in the past year as Palestinians have been riled by visits by non-Muslims, including ultranationalist Jews, to the compound.

Among those marching in Amman on Friday was secretary general of opposition party Islamic Action Front, Mohammed al-Zyoud, who called on all Arab regimes to defend al-Aksa mosque.

“We direct a message to all the Arab regimes and above all, the Jordanian regime, to move in support of al-Aqsa Mosque and to defend our brothers who are targeted in the squares and spaces of al-Aksa Mosque,” he said as he marched alongside other protesters.

Muslim Brotherhood member Ali Abul Sukar called for the same.

“The message that we wanted to send to the leaders of the Arab and Islamic regimes is to save al-Aqsa before we see the day that everyone is cursed for not supporting al-Aksa,” said Abul Sukar.

Israeli police, following long-standing procedures, do not venture further into the mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, and violence usually subsides quickly, as it did on Sunday, after Palestinian demonstrators take refuge inside.

Jewish ultranationalists have been pushing the Israeli government to allow Jewish prayer on the compound outside al-Aksa, which stands above the Western Wall.

Such worship, certain to stir Muslim anger, has been banned on the plaza by Israel since it captured east Jerusalem, and its Old City, in the 1967 Middle East war.

Earlier on Friday in the West Bank, suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old child and seriously injuring his parents and older brother.

The attack has overshadowed the previously planned Day of Rage.