Jordan: Israeli embassy to be evacuated over protest

VIDEO -  Israel's embassy in Jordan will be closed early on Thursday over a mass protest scheduled to take place outside the embassy building in Amman.

For the past week, a Facebook page has been calling Jordanians to attend a "million-man march" towards the Israeli embassy in Amman. Fearing another violent raid such as the near-lynch at the embassy in Cairo over the weekend, Israel has decided not to take any chances and close the embassy.

Related stories: 

• Israeli officials: Jordan hanging by a thread
• Abdullah: Israel's situation more difficult than ever
• Jordan protest threatens to emulate embassy raid
  

Israeli embassy staff in Amman usually return to Israel every weekend, and on Thursday they will make the journey back earlier that usual.

Earlier on Wednesay, demonstrators demanded the closing of the US Embassy in Jordan over Wikileaks cables suggesting covert US plans to turn Jordan into a home for Palestinians.

Protesters burn Israeli, US flags (Video: Reuters)

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It was a rare anti-American demonstration in Jordan, a close ally of the US.

The 70 activists burned American and Israeli flags in a noisy protest opposite the embassy in Amman.

They chanted, "The people want the Americans out."

Protesters burn US, Israeli flags (Photo: Reuters)

Roughly half of the country's 6 million population is of Palestinian origin. With Palestinian-Israeli peace talks stalled, some Jordanians fear Israel may try to deport Palestinians to Jordan.

This week Jordan's King Abdullah II spoke out strongly against using Jordan as a substitute for a Palestinian state, a concept favored by an extremist minority among Israelis.

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