Recently in Jordan Category

It is fanciful to think that Abdullah has a real shot at this title, but maybe he will surprise us. In any case, here is yet more indication of the breadth and depth of the desire to restore the caliphate in the Islamic world. "Jordanian Salafi Cleric Sheik Yassin Al-'Ajlouni: The Caliphate Will Be Reestablished in 2024 by the Son of Jordanian King Abdullah," from MEMRITV, December 13, 2011:

Following are excerpts from a statement Jordanian Salafi cleric Sheik Yassin Al-'Ajlouni, which was posed on the Internet on December 13, 2011:

Yassin Al-'Ajlouni: I bring glad tidings to the Islamic nation: The days of the establishment of the Caliphate are near – the Caliphate that will reside in Jerusalem, and the Caliph who will conquer Palestine. "So when the second warning came to pass, we permitted your enemies to disfigure your faces, and to enter your Temple, as they had entered it before, and to destroy all that fell into their power." This is the Caliph to whom allegiance will be pledged in Palestine, after he conquers the Arab Peninsula and Persia.

I think – although Allah knows best – that the [Caliph] is among us. We see him with our own eyes. He is Abdullah, who reigns over Jordan at present. The man will be guided by Allah to this great conquest, and Allah willing, in 1446 AH [2024 CE], we will witness the rebuilding of the Al-Aqsa of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the most beautiful manner.

The armies that will conquer Palestine will all agree to have Abdullah as their Caliph. This will be a Hashemite Caliphate, but not the way we want it – it will not be in keeping with the path of the Prophet. Such a Caliphate will be established, Allah willing, by Muhammad, whom we believe to be the son of Abdullah II, the current king of Jordan – but Allah knows best.

Allah willing, I will fill you in with more details on this matter.

It is no accident or coincidence that Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but "the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour 'provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.'" And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

Nonetheless, the media drumbeat is constant: honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. And as long as that continues, we will see more and more murders like this one.

"Jordan: Man cuts sister throat to cleanse family honour," from ANSAmed, November 16 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, NOVEMBER 16 - A man from the southern city of Tafilah killed his sister in public by slitting her throat for being involved in a romantic relation, police sources said on Wednesday.

The 18 year old man attacked his sister in the main bus station of the town, before being arrested, said the sources.

Eye witnesses said medics arrived when the girl was making her last breath as investigation continued to determine other culprits in the brutal attack.

The killer told police he wanted to kill his sister to cleanse the family honour after the victim admitted involvement with a man who wanted to marry her, said the police sources.

The death brings number of women killed in the name of honour to nearly 15 since the start of the year, say officials.

The government promised to adopt an iron fist policy with such cases following campaigns from human rights groups.

But activists say strict social habits make it difficult to eradicate such phenomena.

Killers are often handed a sentence between six months to one year for the murder, say activists.

Six months to a year. So you see.

She had just given birth to twins, and her father shot her.

Yes, murders happen everywhere, and cases of parents killing their children exist across the world, but the crucial difference here is how the killings are rationalized and often praised, and how often they fail to be punished on a level that fits the crime. Under Sharia, a parent may face no penalty at all for killing a child.

After prior attempts at reform were quashed under protests that they violated "religious traditions," it is now more possible in Jordan for perpetrators of honor killings to receive longer sentences. But how much time this man is actually sentenced to, and actually serves, bears watching. "Jordan woman killed in hospital over pregnancy," from Agence France Presse, September 4:

A Jordanian man was charged on Sunday with killing his 24-year-old widowed daughter in hospital after she gave birth to twins, a judicial official said.

"Amman's criminal court prosecutor charged the man with premeditated murder after he confessed to shooting dead his daughter on Saturday," in Deir Alla in the Jordan Valley, the official told AFP.

The official quoted the suspect as saying "I was shocked that she was pregnant. I was enraged and shot her dead because she did something shameful."

The woman has been a widow for four years.

"The man claimed he wanted to check on the condition of his daughter ... then he shot her in the head," said Ahmad Hwarat, head of the hospital where the killing took place.

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour killings" courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim's family asks for leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women died in such murders each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

A small boat, but with serious cargo, including "assault rifles, ammunition and other weapons." As noted below, this sort of thing has a funny way of happening from time to time, though not all are as large, famous, or embarrassing as the Karine A. "Israel 'intercepts weapons boat' in Dead Sea," from BBC News, July 25:

Israeli authorities say they have seized a boat carrying arms in the Dead Sea and are questioning two Palestinians who were on the vessel.

The boat was carrying assault rifles, ammunition and other weapons, according to an Israeli military statement.

AFP news agency quoted the military as saying the weapons were being transported from Jordan to the Palestinian territories.

In March, Israel intercepted a ship it said was taking arms to the Gaza Strip.

It said that ship, which was seized in international waters, was carrying weapons meant for militant groups that were to be delivered via Egypt.

The Israeli military described the boat that was reported to have been seized on Monday as a dinghy.

In 2006, Israel detained an Israeli and a Jordanian accused of using an inflatable boat to smuggle guns and drugs from Jordan to Israel.

It is no accident or coincidence that Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

In this case it was not a daughter but a sister who was the victim. Syria in 2009 scrapped a law limiting the length of sentences for honor killings, but "the new law says a man can still benefit from extenuating circumstances in crimes of passion or honour 'provided he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.'" And in 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

Nonetheless, the media drumbeat is constant: honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. And as long as that continues, we will see more and more murders like this one.

"Jordanian man charged over honour killing," from AAP, July 25 (thanks to George):

A JORDANIAN man has been charged with killing his 35-year-old sister when she was released from detention over allegedly having sex outside marriage, a judicial official said today.

"The suspect, in his 40s, was charged on Sunday with premeditated murder after fatally shooting his sister five times in Zarqa," northeast of Amman, the official told AFP.

"She had been in administrative detention since February over a fornication case. Apparently she had (sexual) relations with a man who took advantage of her and pretended he wanted to marry her."

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour killings" courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim's family asks for leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in such killings each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Separately, the official said a 35-year-old man was charged with premeditated murder for slitting the throat of his wife's alleged lover, 26, before cutting off his penis in central Amman on Saturday.

"He handed himself in to police on the same day of the murder and confessed, giving them a bag that had the other man's penis. He was charged with premeditated murder," said the official.

They accused the shoppers of being "atheists," which was enough to declare them fair game to be physically attacked. "Islamists attack Jordan police with swords, daggers," by Musa Hattar for AFP, April 15:

AMMAN — Islamist protesters armed with swords, daggers and clubs attacked police in the city of Zarqa on Friday, wounding 51 of them, as 32 more suffered from tear gas inhalation, Jordan's police chief said.

Lieutenant General Hussein Majali told a news conference that "51 policemen, including senior officers, were stabbed with knives, beaten with bats or hit with sharp tools, while 32 other policemen were treated for tear gas inhalation."

He said "eight civilians were also hurt when police fired tear gas and tried to stop Islamist Salafist demonstrators from attacking shoppers in Zarqa," adding that 17 protesters were arrested and that police are searching for more.

"It was clear that the demonstrators had plans to clash with police. They carried swords and daggers and were provocative, seeking to drag police into a bloody confrontation."

Earlier, police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Khatib told AFP six officers stabbed in the clashes were "in serious condition."

He said police "had to fire tear gas after a group of Islamist Salafists attacked some citizens... accusing them of being atheists."

The Salafists have been demonstrating for several weeks to demand the release of 90 Islamist prisoners, including Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, the one-time mentor of slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Westergaard is no hero of free speech: he has successfully sued Anders Gravers of our sister organization, Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), for unauthorized use of his Muhammad cartoon in a demonstration. Clearly he hasn't the first foggiest idea of why his cartoon is important, or of what the reaction to it -- including this story -- tells the world about Islam and Islamic supremacism. Nonetheless, Western authorities should be protecting him from this Jordanian action, and from jihadist vigilantes who want to execute sentence on Westergaard themselves.

"Jordan to try Danish artist over Mohammed cartoon," from AFP, April 14 (thanks to Paul):

AMMAN — A Jordanian court will begin this month the trial of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard over a controversial caricature of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, but it was unclear if he will attend.

Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in 2008 for depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, said on Thursday the artist and others have been summoned by a magistrates' court in Amman to stand trial on April 25."

A copy of the subpoena obtained by AFP says Westergaard "is accused of the crime of blasphemy."

"These legal measures seek to prevent attempts to insult Islam and incite racial hatred against Muslims worldwide, particularly in Europe," Sheikh told AFP....

What race is Islam again? In any case, Sheikh is at least refreshingly honest: these legal measures are designed to stifle free speech about Islam in the West, and to force the West to adopt Sharia blasphemy provisions.

Westergaard, meanwhile, remains clueless:

He has been quoted in local news reports as saying that he "would like to go to Amman to stand trial. However, what I fear is that I am convicted in advance."

"I wanted to depict the terrorists as if they were taking the Prophet Mohammed as a hostage. I have no problem with Islam but with the terrorists," he said, insisting that he respects Islam but "will not apologise."

MPs have demanded that the government sever ties with Denmark, and Amman has condemned the caricature, warning that it could spark further extremism and harm relations between Denmark and Muslim countries.

If it sparks further "extremism," no one is to blame but the "extremists," and Western authorities should be telling Amman that.

Meanwhile, American analysts continue to insist that the protesters are largely secular. "Jordan releases 4 jailed members of radical Islamist group in effort to stave off protests," by Jamal Halaby for The Associated Press, April 12:

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan has released four jailed members of a radical Islamist group that had threatened to stage a mass demonstration over their detentions, the group's leader said Tuesday.

Abed Shihadeh al-Tahawi said the four were released late Monday under a deal between the security forces and his ultraconservative Salafi group, which is banned in Jordan.

"We warned that we will hold a large demonstration today, which was seen as a security risk for the government," al-Tahawi said. "The government knows that we mean business and that we do not get intimidated by security forces."

Al-Tahawi himself has recently served a prison term for plotting terrorist strikes against the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Jordan in 2004....

Al-Tahawi said security officials got in touch with him and other group members on Monday "to persuade us not to hold our protest."

He said the rally was meant to publicly articulate his group's demand for the release of its four followers, who were arrested in an anti-government rally last week.

"When our four brothers were released, we cancelled the planned protest," he said.

But he insisted the group will continue staging demonstrations to press its demand for the release of 300 other Salafis serving prison terms for plotting al-Qaida--linked terror attacks in Jordan....

The Saudi ban on all non-Muslim religious activity wouldn't fall into the same category for Hammam Saeed, because it is natural for him that "Islam must dominate, and not be dominated." And that, of course, is exactly the goal of Muslim Brotherhood activity in the U.S. as well.

"Jordan Islamist: French veil ban is war on Muslims," from the Associated Press, April 12 (thanks to Twostellas):

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood says France's ban on the Islamic face veil is a war against Muslims.

Hammam Saeed claims the move is a violation of French civil liberties and underlines a "new crusader behavior" against Muslims.

Saeed said in a statement on April 12 that it "marks the beginning of a dangerous war" between cultures. The Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front, is Jordan's largest opposition group....

Remember what started all of this. A relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, and a mob of thousands of outraged Muslims. And note how the attack on the church is described in the passive voice below: "Christians were protesting for the second day over a church in Helwan on the outskirts of the capital that was set on fire Sunday after a row sparked by a relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman."

That's also one heck of a "row," with an estimated 4000 Muslims in the mob, but it fits a broader pattern in the media of trying to make Muslim attacks on Christians sound more like the product of mutual "tensions" than Islamic supremacist aggression. It seems almost an unwritten rule that Christians cannot be victims, and Muslims cannot be villains. More on this story. "One dead as Muslims, Christians clash in Cairo," by Shaimaa Fayed for Reuters, March 8 (thanks to all who sent this in):

CAIRO (Reuters) - One Christian youth was shot dead Tuesday during a protest between 1,300 Christians and Muslims who were throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other, a security source said.

The fighting erupted when a group of Christians blocked a main highway south of Cairo and clashed with Muslims who wanted to pass through, a security source said.

Christians were protesting for the second day over a church in Helwan on the outskirts of the capital that was set on fire Sunday after a row sparked by a relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, witnesses and a security source said.

Someone set the building on fire, but we can't say who. Is Milton Waddams on vacation in Egypt? Did customs confiscate his Swingline stapler?

The army fired gunshots in the air to break up the riot but was unable to quell the fight straight away, witnesses said. An army statement said it "successfully handled riots Tuesday."

One 18-year old Christian was killed by a bullet that struck him in the back but it was unclear who had fired the shot or whether it had been aimed intentionally, the security source said. Some witnesses said they saw protesters carrying weapons.

"They (the Christians and the Muslims) began fighting because people in their cars wanted to pass through and the protesters had blocked the highway," the security source said.

About 20 people were injured and five cars were burned during in the latest sectarian flare-up.

In downtown Cairo hundreds of Christian protesters, carrying wooden crosses and some wearing glow-in-the-dark crucifixes brought another major highway to a halt.

There have been previous flashpoints between Muslims and Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the 80 million population.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council that is governing the country after Hosni Mubarak quit, said the army would rebuild the church before the Easter holidays.

The governor refused to rebuild the church where it stood. Who will win that... "row?"

“All we want is reform within the regime. This is what the people want,” said Islamic supremacist leader Zaki Bani Rsheid. The kind of "reform" he has in mind probably runs along traditional Sharia lines.

Leftist/Islamic Supremacist Alliance Update: "Islamists lead thousands in 'reform' demonstration," by Mohammad Ben Hussein for the Jordan Times, March 6:

AMMAN - Thousands of Islamists and leftists demonstrated in downtown Amman on Friday, renewing their calls for political reform.

During the protest, which started after Friday prayers, nearly 5,000 activists called for the dissolution of Parliament and early polls under a new elections law.

The protest was held in the absence of five opposition parties, which pulled out of weekly demonstrations in order to take part in a reform “dialogue” with the government and various segments of society.

Leaders of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, said they pushed ahead with the protest in order to encourage “regime reform”.

“All we want is reform within the regime. This is what the people want,” Islamist leader Zaki Bani Rsheid told the Jordan Times.

IAF Secretary General Hamzah Mansour said the protests are part of efforts by the Islamist movement to press for reforms after “nearly losing faith” in dialogue with the government.

Early last month, the movement suspended its participation in nationwide protests after the appointment of Marouf Bakhit as prime minister in order to give the government an opportunity to follow through on its reform pledges.

“Now we will not stop until changes have been made,” Mansour said, claiming that the current Parliament “does not represent Jordanians”.

Meanwhile, a group of 50 counter-protesters with unknown political affiliations marched ahead of the Islamists carrying banners bearing the image of His Majesty King Abdullah and chanting pro-government slogans.

Dozens of police officers separated the two rallies, which ended peacefully.

Islamist activists complained that the rival rally was allowed to proceed in front of the opposition protest, describing the move as an act of “intimidation”....

About 10,000 members of the Tiny Minority of Extremists™ are expected to descend upon Amman.

"Jordan: February 25 Day Of Rage, Opposition," from ANSAmed, February 23 (thanks to Insubria):

AMMAN (JORDAN), FEBRUARY 23 - A ''Day of Rage'' has been called in Jordan's capital, Amman, for this Friday to ''denounce acts of violence and demand reform''. The opposition made the announcement and hopes to make it the largest demonstration since the beginning of the protests in the Hashemite kingdom in January. ''About 10,000 members of the Islamic movement'' are expected in Amman to ''denounce acts of violence and demand reform'', France Presse was told by Zaki Bani Rsheid, member of the executive committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and main opposition party. Nineteen other parties and groups have made an appeal to protest alongside the Islamic Action Front in the capital and in several governorates in the kingdom....

"There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious." -- Ayatollah Khomeini

"Shutting Down Nightclubs and Combatting Prostitution Demanded by Jordan Muslim Clerics," from the Ahlul Bayt News Agency, February 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

More than 100 Jordanian Muslim clerics demanded the government shut down all nightclubs in the country and combat prostitution, in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"We demand the government close all nightclubs, which work under the pretext of promoting tourism," 109 clerics, among them a former cabinet minister, MPs, Muslim leaders, university professors and mosque preachers, said in the joint statement.

"We also demand the authorities combat prostitution and brothels, and introduce laws that fight all anti-Islamic and unethical acts which destroy our society," the statement said.

A group of MPs has separately asked the government to close nightclubs in two western Amman streets named after the holy cities of Mecca and Medina because "it is insulting to Islam and Muslims."...

What's that? Don't these people realize that only greasy Islamophobes doubt that a glorious era of democracy is dawning in Egypt? "Jordan Muslim Brotherhood: Israel, U.S. main losers in Mubarak ouster," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, February 12:

The Muslim Brotherhood movement in Jordan, the country's main opposition group, described Saturday the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a "historic victory" with the United States and Israel as the main losers.

"The victory scored by this revolution is in the first place directed against the United States, which so far sponsored the toppled regime, and wanted it as a strong ally and defender of the Zionist entity and an enemy of the Arab jihad and resistance movements," the group said in its first reaction to the developments.

It advised the U.S. and other western governments "to realize the lesson inferred from the victory of Egyptian revolution by acting seriously to change their policies towards this region."

The group also said that the political changes should send "a clear message" to Israel, which "thought that its security has been secured" by a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt....

Here once again we see Islamic supremacists calling for democracy, because they know they will win any honest vote and be able thereafter to impose Sharia. "Jordan Islamists demand speedy political reform," by Suleiman al-Khalidi for Reuters, February 4:

AMMAN (Reuters) - Hundreds of Jordanians, inspired by demonstrations in Egypt, protested on Friday against King Abdullah's government reshuffle saying it did not meet their calls for political reform.

Protesters, drawn mainly from Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood, said the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians demanding an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule were charting a road to freedom and democracy for all Arabs against autocratic rulers.

Abdullah on Tuesday asked Marouf Bakhit, a conservative former premier with a military background, to head the government after accepting the resignation of Samir Rifai, whose dismissal was demanded in protests across the country.

But the appointment of Bakhit angered the main Islamist opposition as his last government oversaw 2007 local and parliamentary elections seen as marred by vote-rigging that left them with a handful of seats in a pro-government assembly.

"No to Rifai; No to Bakhit. We want an elected prime minister," chanted the mainly Islamist crowd, joined by scores of left-wing protesters and activists.

Sheikh Hamza Mansour, head of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, said: "We want changes in policy and laws. It is not about changing faces."...

On Thursday, Abdullah met leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood during which he said the pace of political reforms in recent years had faced hurdles and pledged to fight corruption.

The Brotherhood -- an opponent of Israel, with which Jordan has a peace treaty, and the United States -- said its leaders raised long-standing demands for wider freedom and an end to laws that curb civil liberties.

"We want seriousness and reforms on the ground. We want initiatives now where people feel they are partners in decision making," Sheikh Mansour, who attended the meeting with the monarch, told protesters on Friday.

ElBaradei and the Brotherhood, as we saw here, want Mubarak to go before they enter into any talks. In Jordan, however, the King is meeting with the leaders of the Islamic Action Front. In both countries, the dominant opposition force is made up of pro-Sharia forces.

"Egypt PM begins talks with Opposition," from Sify News, February 3:

Cairo, Feb 3 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Egypt's new prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and vice president Omar Suleiman have started talks with the Egyptian opposition political leaders to overcome the current crisis, state television said Thursday.

Some opposition parties, participating in the rally at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, have agreed to hold a dialogue with the country's authorities, media reports said Thursday evening.

Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appointed civil aviation minister, Ahmed Shafiq, and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as the new prime minister and vice president, respectively, Saturday.

Mubarak urged them to start negotiations with the opposition as soon as possible to return the country to peace.

Egypt's leading opposition figure and critic of Mubarak, Mohammed ElBaradei, has refused to hold talks with the government until the veteran president steps down.

The opposition has dismissed a pledge by Mubarak to demit his office by the end of his official term in September. They are instead demanding his immediate resignation....

"Jordan king to meet Islamist opposition," from AFP, February 3 (thanks to Twostellas):

AMMAN -- Jordan's King Abdullah II was to meet on Thursday with Islamic Action Front (IAF) leaders, who are pushing for more political and economic reform, the party said.

"The meeting with the king was scheduled to start at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Thursday," said an IAF leader.

A Jordanian official told AFP on Monday that the king planned to meet with the IAF as part of his efforts to address grievances of Jordanians amid popular discontent....

Hammam Saeed, like Sheikh Qaradawi and others, apparently believes that if the people in Arab Muslim countries express their general will, Sharia states -- which the Brotherhood is dedicated to establishing -- will result.

"Jordan's opposition: Arabs will topple tyrants," by Jamal Halaby for AP, January 29:

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The leader of Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood warned Saturday that unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple leaders allied with the United States.

Hammam Saeed's comments were made at a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy in Amman, inspired by massive rallies in neighboring Egypt demanding the downfall of the country's longtime president, Hosni Mubarak.

About 100 members of the fundamentalist group and activists from other leftist organizations and trade unions chanted "Mubarak, step down" and "the decision is made, the people's revolt will remain." [...]

"The Americans and (President Barack) Obama must be losing sleep over the popular revolt in Egypt," he said. "Now, Obama must understand that the people have woken up and are ready to unseat the tyrant leaders who remained in power because of U.S. backing."

Saeed did not specifically name King Abdullah. But he said Jordan's prime minister "must draw lessons from Tunisia and Egypt and must swiftly implement political reforms."

"We tell the Americans 'enough is enough'," he said....

The unrest that began in Tunisia and is now roiling Egypt spreads to Jordan. Leftist/Jihadist Alliance Update: "Jordanian protesters demand political reforms," by Suleiman al-Khalidi for Reuters, January 28 (thanks to all who sent this in):

AMMAN (Reuters) - Islamists, leftists and trade unionists gathered in central Amman Friday for the latest protest to demand political change and wider freedoms.

A crowd of at least 3,000 chanted: "We want change."

Banners and chants showed a wider range of grievances than the high food prices that fueled earlier protests, and included demands for free elections, the dismissal of Prime Minister Samir Rifai's government and a representative parliament.

The protest after Friday prayers was organized by the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood which is the only effective opposition and biggest party, but included members of leftist parties and trade unions....

"After Tunisia, Arab nations have found their way toward the path of political freedom and dignity," said Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading Islamist politician....

King Abdullah told lawmakers Thursday the government must do more to ease the plight of Jordanians and urged a faster tempo of political reforms....

"Everything should be put in front of people. There is nothing to be afraid of," said the 49-year-old monarch, who has faced stiff resistance from a conservative establishment to reforms they fear will empower the Islamists....

This is similar to what is going on in Tunisia. "In Jordan, Islamists try to spin popular protests into political uprising," by Taylor Luck in the Christian Science Monitor, January 21:

Young people in the street waving baguettes and decrying unemployment rates, rising prices, and the government - protests in the Jordanian capital today unmistakably resembled the popular uprising in Tunisia....

While it is yet to be seen whether the new measures will satisfy citizens, the pressure is on for Amman to outmaneuver the Islamist opposition, who are attempting to transform an economic crisis into a political debate.

At first slow to harness the growing discontent, the Muslim Brotherhood led today's demonstrations and is trying to link Jordan's economic woes with the need for greater political freedoms....

"Our message is that political reform is the key to fixing all social and economic problems. We need a new unity government and early elections for a democratically elected parliament representing the people that can handle these challenges," said Muslim Brotherhood Spokesman Jamil Abu Baker....

Fallout from the Tunisian "Jasmine Revolution," which the Islamic supremacists are claiming as a victory. Pro-Sharia forces all over are hailing the events in Tunisia, because they know that genuine democratic rule will result in their victory, since the Tiny Minority of Extremists actually enjoys broad popular support. "Islamists in Jordan protest authoritarian rule," from Reuters, January 17 (thanks to Twostellas):

Islamists in Jordan, emboldened by protests in Tunisia that forced out the long-serving president, called on Sunday for an end to what they called authoritarian rule in their country.

Nearly one thousand Islamist and some leftist demonstrators rallied in front of parliament, to protest price rises and free-market reforms they blame for worsening the plight of the poor in the country of 7 million.

The rally was called by the influential Muslim unions, a bastion of opposition to the kingdom's pro-Western policies. Protesters called for the downfall of Prime Minister Samir Rifai's government, pointing to Tunisia as an example.

"The Tunisians who stood as one to bring down tyranny and injustice are an example for all Arab peoples," Sheikh Hammam Said, the head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, told the crowd as many shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest).

"We in Jordan suffer a lot from what Tunisians suffered from. We suffer from authoritarian rule. There has to be an end to this confiscation of freedoms and confiscation of the will of the people," Said added....

The Brotherhood, the country's largest political party, and its leftist allies say political freedoms in Jordan have eroded in recent years and are demanding change....

"Daring and correct behavior." An update on this story. "Jordan Islamists back restaurant owner's expulsion of Israelis," from DPA, December 10 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Amman - The Islamic Action Front, Jordan's main opposition party, Friday supported the expulsion recently of Israeli tourists from a Jordanian restaurant in the Red Sea port of Aqaba.

'The move by the owner of the restaurant represents a daring and correct behaviour because it reflects the conscience of Jordanians who reject all forms of normalisation with the Zionist enemy,' IAF spokesman Mohammad Zoyoud said, referring to Israel.

The owner of the restaurant, Salwa Barghouti, reportedly ordered a number of Israeli tourists out of her restaurant in Aqaba last week after they got drunk and allegedly made jokes about other Arab customers....

It is noteworthy that the earlier Al-Arabiya report about this incident makes no mention of this. All it says is that Barghouti heard them speaking Hebrew, and asked them to leave. Surely Al-Arabiya would have mentioned this salient detail -- that the Israelis were drunk and insulting the Arabs in the restaurant -- if it had really happened. That someone seems to have thought it necessary to invent this charge betrays an awareness in Barghouti's camp of the weakness of her position.

Jew-hatred makes a woman a hero in modern, moderate Jordan. "Jordanian kicks Israelis out of her restaurant," by Nasser Qamash for al-Arabiya, November 30 (thanks to Joseph):

A Jordanian woman gained tremendous fame after refusing to receive a group of Israeli tourists at her restaurant in protest of the crimes of the Jewish state against the Palestinian people.

Several professional associations and rights organizations praised the action taken by Salwa al-Barghouti when she decided to kick Israeli tourists out of her restaurant in the coastal city of al-Aqaba, 370 kilometers off the capital Amman.

Barghouti represents all the Jordanian people in their rejection of the Zionist state, said Maysara Malas, head of the Higher Executive Committee for Anti-Normalization.

"Many Jordanians take similar actions, yet nobody knows about them because the media doesn't know what they do," he added.

News of Barghouti's stance spread all over Jordan and shortly after, she made headlines and several media outlets vied for posting her statements.

"I heard customers entering the restaurants speak Hebrew," she told the press. "I felt extremely angry and remembered all the crimes Israel is committing against Palestinians, so I asked them to leave."

Barghouti said she does not approve of the strong attention that was given to her action by the media.

"I am against dealing with Zionists in any possible way and I see this as very normal."

The Israeli tourists who were kicked out, Barghouti added, filed a complaint against her and she was summoned by state security.

"They asked me to sign a document pledging not to mistreat tourists or kick them out of my restaurant again, but I refused."

Barghouti insisted on her stance and stressed that she will act in the same way if a similar situation takes places.

"My position will never change and I will never allow Israelis into my restaurant," she concluded.

It's a winning campaign issue in modern, moderate Jordan. "Israel at the center of Jordanian elections," by Ryan Jones for Israel Today, November 8 (thanks to Joel):

It's not only in the US where Israel is an important election issue. In neighboring Jordan, the Jewish state has actually become the primary platform item for just about every candidate vying for a seat in Jordan's 120-seat parliament in Tuesday's election.

The problem is that pretty much all of the 763 candidates have the same position regarding Israel, that it is the enemy. The only way to distinguish themselves on the most important election topic is to be more anti-Israel than the other guy.

The Associated Press reported that popular moderate politician Khalil Atiyeh has taken to burning the Israeli flag at his election rallies. The image of him torching the Israeli flag now appears on all of Atiyeh's campaign posters.

Left-wing liberal politician Khaled Ramadan has made "Israel is the enemy" his official campaign slogan.

Israel is working toward "Jordan's demise and the obliteration of our national identity," declared independent candidate Salameh Ghoweiry....

Read it all to find out how they got that idea, which ranks high among the crazy conspiracy theories that circulate in the Islamic world.

In 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

"Jordanian shoots dead sex victim niece as 'honour killing,'" from Sapa, July 24 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

A Jordanian man confessed to killing his 16-year-old niece to save his family's "honour" after she was sexually assaulted, a judicial official said today.

The 43-year-old fired 30 machine-gun rounds in the direction of the girl yesterday, killing her instantly, at Deir Alla, west of the capital Amman, said the official who requested anonymity.

The man confessed to the murder, saying he did it to "cleanse the family honour" over suspicions of "bad behaviour" after the girl "lost her virginity a month ago in a sexual assault by a young man aged 17," said the same source.

The girl's family later married her off to a cousin "to conceal the facts," the official added, stressing that the suspect in the sexual assault was being tried.

Prosecutors have charged the uncle with "premeditated murder." Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour killings" courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim's family asks for leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honour killings each year in the kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Government efforts to curb such crimes? By setting only light punishments for them?

No Hebrew edition for the people the Qur'an calls the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82).

Islamic Antisemitism Alert: "Jordan's Queen Rania rejects offer to publish Hebrew edition of her children's book," by Maya Sela in Haaretz, July 14 (thanks to Alex):

Queen Rania of Jordan has turned down several offers to publish a Hebrew version of a children's book she recently wrote. The book, which was published in the United States by Hyperion under the title "The Sandwich Swap" for children between 4 and 8 years old, was co-written with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

During a promotional campaign for the book, the queen described it as the story of two girls who let the food they bring to school get in the way of their friendship. They disparage each other's food based on their own cultural preconceptions. The two main characters, Lily and Salma, have a lot in common, but not when it comes to their sandwiches: Lily prefers the all-American peanut butter and jelly, while Salma sticks to pita and hummus.

The two learn how to maintain their friendship, despite their cultural differences, but not without a food fight at school in which their classmates take sides. The confrontation ends, however, with a party at which the children exchange sandwiches. The book's message touches open such issues as getting to know others, openness and multiculturalism....

But not for Jews.

According to this report, "the victim was the second woman to be killed for reasons related to family honour during the month of June, and the seventh since the beginning of the year, according to medical sources." Funny how that keeps happening. The unwillingness on Islamic grounds to stiffen penalties for honor killings within Jordan -- the vaunted modern, moderate Jordan -- certainly does not help.

"Two brothers charged with premeditated murder of their sister," by Rana Husseini for the Jordan Times, June 13 (thanks to Larry):

AMMAN - Two brothers were charged on Saturday charged with the premeditated murder of their married sister in the latest so-called honour murder to occur this year, official sources said.

The 19-year-old victim, who was not identified by officials, was reportedly shot in the head by her 20-year-old brother in a bus on the way back to Amman from her husband's house in Irbid, one official source said.

The suspects were immediately arrested by a police patrol unit that happened to be in the area at the time of the shooting, the source added.

The victim's 20-year-old brother claimed family honour as his motive because his sister married a man against her family's wishes, while her 18-year-old brother denied any involvement in the murder, but Criminal Prosecutor Aktham Dababneh still charged him with complicity in premeditated murder, according to the source.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the victim wanted to marry her 19-year-old cousin but her family refused.

"After the family repeatedly turned down his marriage proposal, the two decided to marry on their own and moved to Irbid almost 10 days ago," the source said.

The family knew where their daughter resided and on Saturday night, they took her from her home in Irbid and on the way back, her brother reportedly drew a gun and shot her to death, the source added.

A team of government pathologists comprising Issa Gheishan and Shadi Maaytah performed an autopsy on the victim and established that she died of two gunshot wounds to the head.

Dababneh issued orders for both suspects to be detained for 14 days at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigation into the case.

The victim was the second woman to be killed for reasons related to family honour during the month of June, and the seventh since the beginning of the year, according to medical sources.

On June 1, two men were ordered detained after allegedly stabbing their female relative to death in the street after learning that she was pregnant out of wedlock.

"Dear Jordan: Sorry about the warehouse. Our bad. XOX, the mujahedin." "Rockets fired at Israel fall in Jordan: source," from Reuters, April 22:

Two rockets were fired from the Jordanian port of Aqaba towards Israel on Thursday but landed on an empty warehouse in Jordan, a Jordanian security source said.

Jordanian Minister of State for Information, Nabil al-Shareef, told the state news agency Petra: "A limited explosion took place in the early hours of the morning at a refrigeration warehouse at the northern edge of the city that caused minor damage."

Aqaba is adjacent to the Israeli city of Eilat.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli military said security forces searched Eilat after explosions and flashes of light were reported nearby, but they found no evidence indicating a security-related incident.

Later, the remains of a Katyusha rocket were found near Aqaba and the army was investigating the source, it said.

The incident took place nine days after Israel told its nationals holidaying in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, across the border from Eilat, to leave at once, saying militants planned to kidnap Israelis.

Israeli media reports said earlier that Israel suspected the rockets were fired by militants in the Sinai. One rocket landed near Aqaba, and the other fell into the Gulf of Aqaba, the reports said.

An Israeli security source said nothing had hit Eilat, a popular resort.

Egyptian sources denied that rockets were fired from Sinai.

He is probably right that there will be a war. He probably envisions any long-term solution as Israel making concessions to the Palestinians that will ultimately imperil its existence.

"Jordanian King: Israel's long-term future in jeopardy," from Al-Bawaba, April 6 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Jordanian King Abdullah has warned that Israel's long-term future would remain in jeopardy unless a permanent solution to the Palestinian problem was achieved. Ahead of his trip to the USA, the Jordanian king said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal: "I think the long-term future of Israel is in jeopardy unless we solve our problems."

The Jordanian leader, who is expected to attend President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit, cautioned against "wasting too much time" in resolving the conflict in the region. Pointing to the "tremendous tension" in the Middle East, he warned that the "status quo is unacceptable."

"Over the Israeli-Lebanese border; if you spoke [to some Lebanese] today they feel there is going to be a war any second," he said. "[It] looks like there is an attempt by certain groups to promote a third intifada, which would be disastrous. Jerusalem as you are well aware is a tinderbox that could go off at any time, and then there is the overriding concern about military action between Israel and Iran."

"So with all these things in the background, the status quo is not acceptable; what will happen is that we will continue to go around in circles until the conflict erupts, and there will be suffering by peoples because there will be a war," added Abdullah.

Jews...controlling my...thoughts...must...resist...

"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews..." (Qur'an 5:82). And in their wicked enmity they even constructed those gas chambers and ovens, just to victimize the Islamic world. Those crafty Zionists!

Conspiracy Paranoia Alert: "Jordanian newspaper: 'The Holocaust is a Jewish Myth, Legend, and Lie,'" from Translating Jihad, March 9:

The Holocaust in Our Curriculum
Dr. Salah al-Khalidi
as-Sabeel, 26 Feb 2010

The Jews are experts at exercising power over others by invading their thought, culture, and education, and controlling their views and thoughts. Thus the Jews convert others into their supporters by subjecting them to their lies. They succeed greatly in this Satanic mission because of the ignorance of the Gentiles and the ability of the Jews to plant their agents of thought, culture, media, politics, government, finance, and art, and convert them into soldiers. These soldiers then undertake to "normalize" every Gentile and make them slaves, followers of the Jews. Everyone who takes an honest look at the conditions of the modern world and the Jews' dealings in it realizes this truth. Among the clearest examples of this is the Holocaust.

The Jews succeeded in converted the The Holocaust, a malignant term, into dogma. Every man throughout all the world must have faith in and profess this creed, for woe unto he who denies or doubts it.

The meaning of this Jewish creed is thus: the Jews were slaughtered in Nazi prisons in the days of the second world war, in which they claimed that Hitler and his regime executed and burned more than 5 million Jews in gas ovens in Germany and elsewhere!! The Jews blackmailed Germany, calling for her to pay financially for the crimes of the Nazis and recompense the Jews for the sacrifices of the Holocaust. They took billions upon billions from Germany and the rest of Europe, and still continue to blackmail and milk the Europeans!!

If any Western thinkers attempt to doubt the numbers of Jews killed in the Holocaust, they are branded anti-semites who must be tried, convicted, and punished, as happened with Jarudi.

The Jewish devils direct UNESCO, the international cultural organization under the umbrella of the United Nations, exploiting the stupid Gentiles and using them to issue international resolutions which require every nation in the world, including those in our Arab and Islamic world, to consider the Holocaust a worldwide tragedy....

Read it all.

Al-Mutarajjam at Translating Jihad notes: "Quite often we will hear Muslims claim to be anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish. However, in this essay the author shows that Islam is intrinsically anti-semitic, regardless of what 'the Zionists' do."

"Jordanian newspaper: 'How Can (the Jews), Being Unclean, Claim Possession of His Mosque, to Defile It with Their Stench and Their Filthy Deeds?!," from Translating Jihad, March 6:

The Jews and Moral Impudence
Dr. 'Ali al-'Atoum
As-Sabeel, 2 Mar 2010

[...] But the Jews are not from the true religion, nor linked to Abraham and his children in anything. Allah in his noble book called them kuffar (infidels), saying: "Cursed are those who disbelieved from the children of Israel on the tongue of David and 'Isa (Jesus) son of Mary." He said regarding their relationship to Abraham: "Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but he was an upright Muslim, and joined not gods with Allah" [Qur'an 3.67]. The text of the book of Allah has decreed that the closest to Abraham and his heritage are the Muslims and their prophet, for thus it says: "The closest in kin to Abraham are those who follow him, as are also this Prophet, and those who believe, and Allah is the protector of those who have faith" [Qur'an 3.68].

For these holy places in the city of Khalil al-Rahman and the surrounding area are purely an Islamic inheritance, set apart by the Prophet more than 1,400 years ago for the owner of Galilee Abu Raqiya Tamim ibn Ausa al-Dari and his companions, and for those that come after them until the day of resurrection, as an exclusive gift.

Now concerning the Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque in Bethlehem, may Allah be pleased with it, which they [the Jews] call the Tomb of Rachel (the wife of Jacob)--what an evil claim (they make). Bilal, who who was from the Levant, was the muezzin (i.e. the one who makes the call to prayer) of the Prophet. His name, body, voice, and faith increased, as did his purity and cleanliness. How can they, being unclean, claim possession of his mosque, to defile it with their stench and their filthy deeds?! While they are attacking our holy sites and insulting our places of worship, where are the Muslims, who follow the commandments of their prophet and his successors and followers, and who respect the religions and minarets of others, even during war?!...

Read it all.

Not that he had forgotten about Jordan: "There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations."

More on this story. "Al Qaeda double agent calls for jihad in Jordan," from the Associated Press, February 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

CAIRO, Egypt -- An al Qaeda double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday.

Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al Qaeda.

The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.

"We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt," he said in the video.

The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes.

It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the co-operation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.

Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA.

He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of al Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.

"The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behaviour, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again," he said.

Al-Balawi, a doctor, hailed from the same hometown of Zarqa as al-Zarqawi and was a prolific contributor to extremist Web sites, but was never able to realize his dream of joining the jihad until he was arrested by Jordanian security.

In the video he described how they plied him with money and material goods and bragged about their past successes before sending him to Afghanistan to spy on al Qaeda there -- finally giving him the chance he had long sought to join the insurgency.

"I cut ties for four months, then came back to them with some videos taken with leaders of the Mujahideen, so that they would think that I was leaking videos and betraying the Mujahideen," he said.

In light of Jordan's strong support for the United States, al-Balawi called for attacks on members of its intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government.

"There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations," he said.

The Arabic-language video came with an English transcript and a second version dubbed into English, part of the extremist group's continued outreach to non-Arabic speaking jihadists, such as in Pakistan.

In 2003 the Jordanian Parliament voted down on Islamic grounds a provision designed to stiffen penalties for honor killings. Al-Jazeera reported that "Islamists and conservatives said the laws violated religious traditions and would destroy families and values."

"Jordanian jailed for sister's 'honour killing,'" from AFP, January 29 (thanks to Maxwell):

AMMAN (AFP) - A Jordanian court sentenced a 19-year-old man to 10 years in jail for stabbing his sister to death in order to "cleanse the family honour," a judicial official said on Friday.

The defendant turned himself in to police after killing his 22-year-old sister last year for many unexplained absences from home, said the official who requested anonymity.

"The court sentenced the defendant to 15 years in prison for premeditated murder, but reduced the sentence to 10 years after the family dropped any legal claims" against him, the source said.

"The defendant killed his sister with knife stabs on April 5, 2009 to cleanse the family honour, because of her many absences from home," the official said. "He then turned himself over to the police."

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour" cases a court sometimes commutes or reduces sentences, particularly if the victim's family urges leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honour killings each year in Jordan despite government efforts to fight such crimes....

But...but...isn't poverty supposed to be the cause of terrorism? And wasn't this guy a "moderate"?

"Al-Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers," by Robert Windrem and Richard Engel for NBC News, January 4 (thanks to Phil):

The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News....

According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from the town of Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.

Al-Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago. However, the Jordanians believed that al-Balawi had been successfully reformed and brought over to the American and Jordanian side, setting him up as an agent and sending him off to Afghanistan and Pakistan to infiltrate al-Qaida.

Here is a helpful post from MEMRI collecting together all the Al-Qaeda communiques about the recent suicide bombing in Amman. Why did they target hotels in Amman?

"From these hotels, the Crusaders also operate the bases that they have established on Jordanian soil in order to train cohorts of apostates for the army of the infidel government in Baghdad. Consequently, they have turned into meeting places for officers of the so-called 'NATO Alliance' which supervises these bases in order to turn the Muslim land of Jordan into a safe rear base for the armies of the Crusaders and deserters of the faith, [a base from which they] set forth to Iraq in order to kill Muslims, shed their blood, and violate the honor of their women, while the Jordanian scoundrel and others shed crocodile tears over them. Thanks to the wall of security around these hotels, they have become safe breeding grounds for the filth of Jewish and Western tourists, who spread their licentiousness and lechery at the expense of the blood and suffering of the Muslims in this land.

There is much more. Read it all.

A Saudi Arabian intelligence report claims the majority of foreign fighters in Iraq are from Algeria, Syria and Yemen. Other reports claim the opposite. From the AP:

From hilly Zarqa and nearby Salt, from Cairo, Damascus and distant points, young Arab fighters have slipped across the desert and into Iraq. If that shattered land plunges into a religious war of Sunni against Shiite, will these ranks of foreign volunteers swell further?

Some here in his hometown hope more will follow Iraq’s most notorious volunteer, Abu Mussab Zarqawi. But many hope not.

“We’re all Muslims. We shouldn’t fight each other,” townsman Abu Salah, 50, told a reporter as he rushed into Friday prayers recently at the drab storefront Mosque of Omar, wedged between shops in the shadows of a narrow downtown street.

A curbside perfume peddler listening in said many young men from Zarqa have gone over the border to join the anti-U.S. insurgency. “But if it’s civil war, they won’t get involved,” said Ashraf Abu Abdullah. “Instead, we in Jordan should help resolve it.”

Hundreds of men were shedding their shoes for the service. A Sunni sheik’s sermon blared from the mosque loudspeaker, an earsplitting screed against belly dancing on satellite television. As the faithful spread prayer rugs on the sidewalk, a young man approached, wearing the full beard of a devout Muslim.

“Yes, lots have gone in already,” the long-robed Abdullah told the visitor, giving only his first name. “If there’s civil war, lots more will go.”

Why? he was asked. It’s simple, he said: “For God.”

An all-out civil war in Iraq could further inflame Sunni extremists elsewhere. More militants among Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi sect, who practice an austere and radical brand of Islam, might try to aid Iraq’s minority Sunnis.

Hmm. Maybe those missiles fired from Jordan weren't all that moderate after all. From AFP, :

DUBAI and AQABA, Jordan -- An Al Qaeda linked group claimed on August 19 rocket attacks near US warships moored in the Red Sea port of Aqaba and into a neighbouring Israeli resort killing a Jordanian soldier.

The group, the Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt, said in a statement posted on an Islamic website that its guerrillas fired "three Katyusha rockets" on the Aqaba and Eilat ports.

The US military said there had been no American casualties.

A total of three Katyusha rockets were fired from a warehouse in Aqaba, landing in the port, a site close to a military hospital and next to the airport in the nearby Israeli resort of Eilat, Jordan said....

Good thing this happened in Jordan: these must have been moderate missiles. "Missile Fired at U.S. Navy Ship in Jordan," from AP, :

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Unknown assailants fired at least three missiles from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked at port, an attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. One missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said two American amphibious ships were docked in Aqaba when a mortar was fired toward them. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown told The Associated Press in Bahrain.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the mortar sailed over one of the U.S. ships and slammed into a warehouse, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media....

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said another missile landed near a Jordanian hospital.

The attacks were believed to have been launched from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman, officials said....

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but Islamic extremists have long criticized Jordan's U.S.-allied moderate government for its peace treaty with Israel and close ties with the West.

From UPI, .

Jordan's Islamic legislators have asked King Abdullah to allow Hamas leaders who were evicted six years ago to return to Jordan, a legislator said Wednesday.

Azzam Honeidi, head of the Islamic bloc in Parliament, told UPI that the 17 legislators made the request at a meeting with the Jordanian monarch Tuesday night.

He said the Islamic legislators raised the issue on the grounds that Hamas is a strong political movement in the Palestinian territories, with influence in the Arab and Islamic world.

Honeidi said the bloc pointed out to the king that "even the United States and Europe started establishing contacts with Hamas in view of its wide popular base among the Palestinians."

The legislators also argued that the evicted Hamas leaders held Jordanian nationality and according to the constitution no Jordanian should be expelled from the country...

Jordan expelled Hamas leaders, including Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, in 1999. It later agreed to allow the return of those who held Jordanian nationality on condition they quit their positions in the movement and stopped any political or media activity.

We've heard this kind of talk before, but will changing school textbooks actually help discourage jihad or change the traditional interpretations of Islamic law? From the International Herald Tribune, with thanks to Skeet Street.

AMMAN, Jordan By Middle Eastern standards, Jordanian schoolbooks are relatively free of bombast. But some textbooks used here to teach Islamic culture contain nefarious conspiracies that just will not go away.

There is the Western plot to divide the Muslim world. There is the conniving Jew seeking to destroy Islam. And there is the call for a return to the faith in response.

But if a committee reviewing the country's Islamic curriculum has its way, such talk, at least in the current form, is likely to become history. Facing growing extremism and rising security threats, educators are seeking to revamp their religious studies curriculum to cultivate a more thoughtful and open mind in a country that is among the more moderate of Arab states.

The effort to foster more moderate expressions of Islam is decidedly ambitious for an Arab government, but also very delicate.

Ostensibly, it seeks to inoculate Jordanian youth against extremism, although some critics complain that it is really an effort to ward off foreign pressure, especially from the United States, on which Jordan has grown increasingly dependent...

Islamic law stipulates that a killer of non-Muslims is to be punished more lightly than a killer of Muslims, so this is unsurprising. From UPI, with thanks to Twostellas:

Amman, Jordan, Jun. 13 (UPI) -- Islamic-led professional associations in Jordan are pressing for the release of a soldier serving a life sentence for killing Israeli students.

The Syndicate of Jordanian Engineers, which is controlled by the Islamic Action Front, announced Monday that the coalition of 14 professional unions had asked the Committee for Combating Normalization of Relations with Israel to join efforts in organizing a national campaign to press for the release of Ahmed Dakamissa and others the group considers political prisoners in Jordan.

Dakamissa was sentenced to life in prison by a military court in 1997 after being convicted of killing seven Israeli schoolgirls who were on a school trip in the region of Baqoura on the Jordanian-Israeli border after Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994.

Dakamissa, who was a soldier at the time, justified his act by saying he opened fire at the girls after they made fun of him while he was praying.

Dakamissa was perhaps inspired by the example of Muhammad:

Once the Prophet was offering prayers at the Ka'ba. Abu Jahl was sitting with some of his companions. One of them said to the others, "Who amongst you will bring the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.) of a camel of Bani so and so and put it on the back of Muhammad, when he prostrates?" The most unfortunate of them got up and brought it. He waited till the Prophet prostrated and then placed it on his back between his shoulders. I was watching but could not do any thing. I wish I had some people with me to hold out against them. They started laughing and falling on one another. Allah's Apostle was in prostration and he did not lift his head up till Fatima (Prophet's daughter) came and threw that (camel's abdominal contents) away from his back. He raised his head and said thrice, "O Allah! Punish Quraish." So it was hard for Abu Jahl and his companions when the Prophet invoked Allah against them as they had a conviction that the prayers and invocations were accepted in this city (Mecca). The Prophet said, "O Allah! Punish Abu Jahl, 'Utba bin Rabi'a, Shaiba bin Rabi'a, Al-Walid bin 'Utba, Umaiya bin Khalaf, and 'Uqba bin Al Mu'it (and he mentioned the seventh whose name I cannot recall). By Allah in Whose Hands my life is, I saw the dead bodies of those persons who were counted by Allah's Apostle in the Qalib (one of the wells) of Badr. (Bukhari, 1:4:231)