Small stores in the center of Amman are selling garlands of light and embroidered crescent moons, the decorations that adorn homes during the month of Ramadan. Jordan's King Abdullah II has stepped up his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza in the lead-up to the Muslim month of fasting, beginning on Monday, March 11. The monarch spoke of "the threat of expanding the conflict," which could be triggered by incidents at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's holiest site, in Jerusalem.
The period could provide a window of opportunity for fresh protests in the streets of Jordan, reviving the feverishness of the autumn of 2023, when the violence of the war launched by Israel in Gaza, in retaliation to the October 7 Hamas attack, had triggered vast demonstrations. Since then, Amman has regained its calm. Rallies are still held every week to denounce the Palestinian ordeal in Gaza or to demand that Amman cease its cooperation with Israel. But they are restricted.
The shadow of the conflict is ever-present. "The war in Gaza has fuelled a re-engagement of public opinion with the Palestinian question," said journalist Osama Al-Sharif. "Young people are experiencing a real awakening," added lawyer Samar Muhareb.
There is, of course, a natural sensitivity to the cause. Nearly 60% of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin – their forbears were expelled during the war in 1948 or fled during the conflict of 1967, and hailed in particular from the West Bank, which was until then under Jordanian annexation. The Nakba, the obliteration of Palestine upon Israel's creation in 1948, has remained a traumatic event in Israel's neighboring societies.
Despite these close ties, reactions had not been as lively in 2021 when violence erupted in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Today, anger runs deep "in the face of the scale of the unbearable atrocities committed by the Israeli army," said Roula Hroub, a left-wing opponent. She herself lost more than a hundred relatives in the Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave, where her family originates.
As a result of massive US political and military support for Israel, the boycott of brands associated with the US, such as Starbucks coffee shop franchises, is continuing. Five months into the conflict, the desire to help the people of Gaza shows no sign of abating. On the tables of a chic café in Amman, a hand-written sign from the staff invites customers to make donations to feed families in Gaza.
"We are inundated with calls and e-mails from Jordanians asking us to do more to help the people of Gaza," reported Marwan El-Hennawy, program director at the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization. Individuals and the private sector send parcels and financial donations destined for Gaza to the organization, the main contact for international agencies in the humanitarian response.
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