People move to cut Jordan's ties to Israel

Here's a remarkable piece on the MSNBC news site.

Israel was evacuating its embassy in Jordan on Wednesday in advance of a demonstration promoted on Facebook under a banner "No Zionist embassy on Jordanian territory," The Jerusalem Post reported without citing sources.


Security forces in Jordan were preparing for the protest, which was scheduled to take place Thursday at the embassy in Amman, Israel's Ynet news reported. Armored vehicles and security officers were stationed at the building, according to the website.


The move comes days after the Israeli Embassy in Cairo was ransacked by hundreds of protesters, forcing the the ambassador to flee the country.


Story: Israeli PM condemns embassy attack in Cairo


Elsewhere in Amman, demonstrators demanded the closing of the U.S. Embassy in Jordan over WikiLeaks cables suggesting covert U.S. plans to turn Jordan into a home for Palestinians.

It was a rare anti-American demonstration in Jordan, a close ally of the U.S.

The 70 activists burned American and Israeli flags in a noisy protest opposite the embassy in Amman on Wednesday.

They chanted, "The people want the Americans out."

Roughly half of the country's 6 million population is of Palestinian origin. With Palestinian-Israeli peace talks stalled, some Jordanians fear Israel may try to deport Palestinians to Jordan.

This week Jordan's King Abdullah II spoke out strongly against using Jordan as a substitute for a Palestinian state, a concept favored by a tiny extremist minority among Israelis.

This is fascinating. Could King Abdullah really be so poorly informed as to speak out against another ethnic cleansing campaign if only a "tiny extremist minority among Israelis" supports the idea?

It's good news that ordinary people in the front line states are severing diplomatic relations with Israel but the fears expressed at the end of this article go to the heart of Israel's existence. Ethnic cleansing is certainly extreme when it happens in most places but in Israel it is considered the norm.

Is Jordan next in line?

Jordan is looking decicedly panicky according to Ha'aretz:

Jordan's King Abdullah has sacked his government in the wake of street protests and has asked his former ex-military adviser Marouf Bakhit to form a new cabinet, an official said.

King Abdullah's move comes after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets - inspired by the regime ouster in Tunisia and the turmoil in Egypt - and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.

But I was just reading Angry Arab again (and again and again - well worth the time). See what he says here:

I am getting a lot of questions about where it will hit next: the Arab great tsunami.  I am getting a lot of buzz from comrades in Bahrain.  But Morocco is ripe in my opinion.  The king does not have the shrewdness of his father.  And the royal family there is not unified.  

So, where next?

Israel severs diplomatic relations with Egypt

Well something like that. El Al has flown the families of diplomats out of the capital. Here's the Jerusalem Post:

The Foreign Ministry on Saturday commissioned a special flight to bring home the families of diplomats stationed in Cairo amidst the anti-government protests taking place in Egypt, Israel Radio reported.

In addition to the family members of the diplomats, some forty other Israelis who had been residing in Egypt were brought home on the flight for fear of their safety.

Israel is the first country to evacuate citizens from Egypt.

According to the Angry Arab News Service,

"i just drove by what used to be the israeli embassy in cairo. it's now completely empty, the staff has fled. there is no longer an israeli flag hanging in cairo or anywhere else in egypt."

This means that Jordan is the only Arab country where the Israeli flag still flies.