“A stab in the back of Gaza.” The Jordanians reject the land bridge

Jordanian demonstrators in activities calling for supporting Gaza by land and air and supplying it with aid (Al Jazeera)

Amman -

In recent days, pro-Gaza activities in Jordan have focused on basic demands, namely the rejection of the land bridge, which citizens say supplies the occupation with goods to break the blockade imposed by the Houthis on the passage of ships heading to the occupied territories through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Irbid Governorate witnessed a massive central event that was scheduled to head towards the “Sheikh Hussein Crossing” on the border between Jordan and the occupied territories, but closures and security barriers prevented that.

Mass events

The participants raised a giant banner reading, “We want a land bridge to Gaza.” They also demanded stopping the passage of trucks that supply the occupation with goods, and preventing all exports. For their part, the security forces arrested a number of citizens who were able to reach close to the crossing to demonstrate.

The cities of Karak, Salt, Mafraq, and Aqaba also witnessed activities and marches that denounced the land bridge and raised a unified slogan, which was, “Starving Gaza is a crime and the land bridge is treason.”

The National Forum for Supporting the Resistance and Protecting the Homeland, which includes civil society parties and initiatives, stresses that the passage of the land bridge through Arab countries, including Jordan, is “a stab in the back to the people of Gaza who are subjected to a war of starvation and daily massacres, the number of victims of which has reached tens of thousands.”

On the other hand, the government insists on denying these accusations, as Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh described them - a few days ago - as a “revelation of imagination,” which was also denied by government spokesman Muhannad Al-Mubaidin in a previous statement to Al-Jazeera Net.

A march that raised a unified slogan: “Starving Gaza is a crime and the land bridge is a betrayal” (Al Jazeera)

Shame

In this context, former parliamentarian and head of the Labor Party, Rula Al-Haroub, told Al Jazeera Net, “It is a shame that our people in Yemen close the entrances to international trade, while we open the bridges for goods to reach the occupation. We are witnesses to the starvation of the children and people of Gaza, where there is no food or medicine.” ".

She pointed out that the airdrops carried out by the Jordanian army and some other countries are a good step, but they are not sufficient because the situation urgently needs sustainable air, land and sea bridges to Gaza, "and even when this is available, we are still negligent and are only doing our duty."

During the past few days, “rejecting the land bridge” was the most prominent topic of activities in Amman and the rest of the governorates, which fuels the occupation with the aim of exerting pressure that activists called “starvation with hunger” to push the occupation towards lifting the stifling siege on the people of the Gaza Strip and allowing the entry of aid.

Last Tuesday, citizens gathered in front of the Ministry of Transport to demand that the occupation not provide goods trucks. They raised banners bearing the phrases “The land bridge is treason” and “No to starving Gaza.” They also chanted, demanding the extension of aid bridges from Jordan and Arab countries to Gaza, especially the northern Gaza Strip.

The National Forum for Supporting the Resistance publishes a video documentation of the route of the trucks participating in the land bridge that supplies the occupation with goods between the Al-Omari border center and the Sheikh Hussein crossing.

Monitoring of the route took place in five rounds, and photography took place in the last round for documentation. #Stop_the_Bridge_of_Shame #The_Land_Bridge_Betrayal pic.twitter.com/k36PIDz9YK

- Ziad Ibhais (@ZiadIbhais) February 29, 2024

Human chain

Hundreds of young men also gathered near the Israeli embassy in the Rabieh area, denouncing the massacre that took place at the Nabulsi roundabout in the northern Gaza Strip, or what was called the “massacre of the hungry Gaza,” which was committed by the occupation, leaving more than 100 martyrs and about a thousand injured among those who gathered to receive aid.

On Thursday, a human chain was set up at what the participants said was “one of the paths of the land bridge” amid a heavy security presence and fears of an escalation by citizens or the occurrence of road blockages, which was also reported by the Israeli media in a previous similar event.

This event coincided with the “National Forum” publishing a video clip revealing what it said was “the path of the land bridge from the Al-Omari border center to the Sheikh Hussein crossing,” where it explained that the maps and pictures it presented were the result of monitoring - for several days - the path of the trucks.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced - on Thursday - the death of 13 children due to famine and malnutrition in the northern Gaza Strip.

While the Israeli aggression against this besieged Palestinian sector continues, and the humanitarian crisis escalates, reaching the point of famine and the bombing of citizens as they gather to receive scarce aid.

Source: Al Jazeera