An estimated 1,600 prisoners in Israeli prisons are refusing food in order to protest solitary confinement, arbitrary imprisonment and other restrictions placed on them.
While Jordan remains outwardly calm, internal political turmoil persists. Contrary to the regime’s long-standing assumption that Palestinians posed the greatest threat to the rule of King Abdullah II, it is in fact ethnic Jordanians, known locally as East Bankers, who are leading the ongoing protests in the rural parts of the country.
Video from this protest continues to make the rounds in Jordan, perhaps the most overt denunciation of the king thus far. Dozens of men of all ages gather outside Juweida prison in the southern town of Tafila, not hesitating to show their faces on camera. The song is called “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,” and in it, while doing the debke dance, the protesters refer to King Abdullah II as Ali Baba II, backed by his 40 thieves.
Jordan’s largest daily, Al Rai, continues to promote the narrative that the king is fighting a winning battle against corruption. This article in Al Rai notes how Municipal Minister Maher Abu Suman has transferred four investigations on corruption to the public prosecutor’s office for follow up. Protesters and Jordan’s active online community denounce the corruption of the king, his wife Queen Rania and her brother in particular increasingly openly. Al-Rai reports that one of the cases involves the illegal issuance of a license to build a wedding hall 30 meters from a hospital, which is against the law. The hall must be built at least 500 meters from a hospital. Other files include uncollected rents from government-owned property and inconsistent records. Corruption, corruption, corruption – beginning at the top – is and will continue to be the greatest threat to the king’s place on the throne.
