Jordanians show appreciation for Venezuelan Israel rebuff

Jan 8, 2009, 12:40 GMT

Amman - Hundreds of Jordanians, some of them carrying flowers, demonstrated outside the Venezuelan embassy Thursday to thank Caracas for severing ties with Israel in protest over the high casualty toll of civilians in the ongoing attack on the Gaza Strip.

The participants chanted slogans and raised placards praising the step taken by President Hugo Chavez and urging Arab countries with diplomatic ties with the Jewish state to follow Venezuela's lead.

Jordan's largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), has praised Venezuela's rupture of diplomatic ties with Israel.

'Your decision represents a spotlight in the middle of a wide area of black collusion by forces of arrogance and their subservient parties,' IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid said in a letter to Chavez.

He said that Venezuela's move represented a 'slam to those governments which maintain silence over the killing of children' in the Gaza Strip.

Jordanian trade unions and opposition parties planned to stage a massive demonstration on Friday with the intention of proceeding to the Israeli embassy in Amman which has been under unprecedented security measures, since the start of the Israeli offensive 13 days ago.

Jordanian demonstrations have been pressing the government to sever ties with Israel and abrogate the peace pact Jordan concluded with Israel in 1994.

Prime Minister Nader Dahabi dropped strong hints earlier this week that the diplomatic ties with Israel could be affected as a result of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.