Israel Clears Out Embassy in Jordan Fearing Repeat of Egypt

The Israeli government is taking no chances of a repeat of the weekend ransacking of its embassy in Cairo, pulling back its ambassador and most staff from its diplomatic mission in Jordan ahead a planned million-man march in support of the United Nations recogreposed proposed Palestinian statehood.

Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo and his staff left its complex in Amman in a convoy overnight. The diplomats hope to return Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Nevo and his staff routinely return to Israel for the sabbath.

The anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt and Jordan is particularly troubling because they are the only Arab counties that have peace treaties with Israel.

President Obama had to intervene diplomatically on behalf of Israel to save the lives of trapped security personal in the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Now the U.S. embassy in Jordan is also under increased protection by Jordanian police after Wikileaks diplomatic cables suggested a secret plan to turn Jordan into a homeland for Palestinians. There was a small protest outside the U.S. embassy in Amman yesterday in which demonstrators burned the American flag and demanded that the American diplomats be expelled from Jordan.

The region is swiftly becoming a powder keg amid the Palestinian Authority's plan to seek statehood at the UN.

The U.S. has vowed to veto any move for statehood on the UN Security Council and is lobbying other countries to do also oppose the move. Israel, however, increasingly becoming isolated and faces widespread support globally for Palestinian statehood.

Nonetheless, the U.S. is still hoping the statehood issue is abandoned, fearing a veto could trigger even more anti-American demonstrations in the Muslim world.

"We continue to see any kind of effort by the Palestinians in New York as counterproductive and not in the interest of achieving a two-state solution, which is our goal," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

"Our argument conveyed to countries around the world is that this is a counterproductive measure by the Palestinians, and because of that, it doesn’t get anybody any closer to a comprehensive peace settlement, and that’s why we’ve got to remain focused on getting them back to the negotiating table," Toner added.

The world's leading Islamic democracy, Turkey, which has diplomatic and trade relations with Tel Aviv, is also ripped at the Israeli government for failing to apologize for its soldiers killing nine Turkish civilians on a ship that was part of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza last year.

A UN-appointed panel found the Israeli commandos faced "organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers," but was still heavy handed in its response that led to the massacre on aboard the ship. "It seems to us to have been too heavy a response too quickly. It was an excessive reaction to the situation," the panel's report stated.

An internal Israeli probe cleared its military of any wrongdoing.

Egyptian Mob Storm and Loot Israeli Embassy

Angry Egyptian demonstrators ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo, looting anything they could grab including files and torching Cairo police cars that were sent there to protect the building, CNN reported.

Israeli diplomats had long cleared out, fearing such an attack after Israeli Defense Forces killed five Eqyptian soldiers last month when Sinai gunmen launched an attack on Isreali settlers.

President Obama spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu today expressing his "great concern about the situation at the Embassy, and the security of the Israelis serving there," a White House statement said.

"(Obama) reviewed the steps that the U.S. is taking at all levels to help resolve the situation without further violence, and to call on the Government of Egypt to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy," the statement said.

In the West Bank, Jewish hardliners this week attacked mosques in two separate Palestinian villages. The Israeli and U.S. governments condemned those attacks as provocative incidents meant to trigger more violence in that powder-keg of a region.

The U.S also called on Turkish and Israeli officials to tone down the fiery rhetoric between those two erstwhile allies over a humanitarian aid flotilla destined for Gaza. Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and vowed to send Turkish warships along with the next flotilla to protect the humanitarian mission.

Israel and Turkey have long been silent partners, but that relationship has deteriorated since Israeli commandos last year boarded a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza, killing nine civilian passengers.

Netanyahu has refused to apologize for the massacre on the Turkish ship.

Protesters Remain Near Golan Heights

The United Nations is urging pro-Palestinian protesters and the Israeli Defense Forces at the Golan heights to cool down before tensions escalate and more people are hurt.

"The events of today and of 15 May on the Golan put the long-held cease-fire in jeopardy," the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

Israeli officials charge Syrian authorities with a cynical and deadly ploy of allowing pro-Palestinian protesters yesterday to cross into the captured Golan Heights to divert attention away from the strong-arm tactics of President Bashir al-Assad.

The Israelis argued that the protesters, who were marking Naksa Day anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War, when the Israelis captured the heights and other territory from Syria, Jordan and Egypt, could not approach the border fence without the Syrian military allowing it to happen.

"The Syrians allowed these people to instigate provocation, to challenge Israel's sovereignty," said Netanyahu. "This was an attempt to divert international intention from what is happening with Syria, and from the difficult events occurring in the city of Homa," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. 

"We stand firm in our right to protect our citizens and our border, and will do this with restrain and responsibility," he added.

It led to the deaths of about two dozen demonstrators yesterday, according to Syria, though Israel says it was closer to 10. The Syrian charge the protesters were shot, but the Israeli's say they were killed when they tripped land mines in the area when they hurled firebombs.

Some 14 protesters also were killed May 15 along the Israeli border with Syria and Lebanon. May 15 is Nakba Day, which marks the day Palestinians fled their homes after the Israeli takeover in 1948.