Bouazizi saga: Jordanian youth sets self on fire to ‘protest normalization with Israel’
A young man has set himself on fire in the southwestern Jordanian city of Aqaba to protest the country’s détente with the Israeli regime.
Footage of the incident was shared across social media accounts on Friday, with netizens purporting that it had taken place in front of the Royal Palace in the city.
Those sharing the video included Dr. Sam Youssef, United States-based author and editor, who said that the youth was “protesting against his country and King Abdullah II’s position on normalization with Israel.”
Others commenting on the incident said it harked back to one in 2010, when young fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi set himself alight to death to protest police harassment and unemployment in Tunisia. Bouazizi’s act of self-immolation touched off the monumental Arab Spring demonstrations.
The video also showed Jordanian guards opening fire on the burning figure.
“He was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead,” said the Middle East Monitor, a press monitoring organization.
Jordan signed a peace treaty with the Israeli regime in 1994.
The deal has not sit easily with the Jordanian public, who have repeatedly rallied in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital Amman, calling on the government to cancel the rapprochement.
The demonstrations have escalated since October last year, when the Israeli regime launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip that has so far killed at least 36,654 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
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