Amid the 11-day conflict that pitted Israel on the one hand and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad on the other, Jordanians took to the streets, organizing protests and sit-ins across the kingdom in support of the Palestinians.

Protesters even attempted to cross the border toward Palestine but the armed forces intervened to stop them. However, there were reports indicating that two Jordanians crossed the border carrying knives and that Israeli security forces arrested the pair May 16; the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs is said to be working for their release.

The angry protesters demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Jordan and chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, denouncing the aggression on the Gaza Strip and violations in Al-Aqsa Mosque and other parts of Jerusalem. They also demanded the opening of the Israeli-Jordanian border and the abolishment of Jordan's peace treaty and natural gas agreement with Israel.

The series of protests, their momentum and the security leniency toward them have formed a new trend in terms of how the kingdom deals with sit-ins and protests against Israel. These protests are the most important in terms of magnitude and demands involving Israel since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel on Oct. 26, 1994. Observers and analysts were particularly intrigued by how Jordanian security dealt with the so-called Friday March on May 14 in the Karama area in the southern Jordan Valley, a few kilometers from the borders with Israel and the West Bank.