In Egypt, Jordan, and elsewhere, students and other protesters marched in the streets, rallying against Israel's handling of clashes in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip that have left more than 80 people dead, mostly Palestinians. More than a half-million people marched through the capital of Morocco, and in Yemen--whose president has called for an Arab war against Israel--tens of thousands descended on the U.N. office.
Violence spread through the territories after hard-line Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's Sept. 28 visit to a Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslims and Jews. Several Palestinians injured in the clashes thus far have been taken elsewhere in the Arab world for medical treatment. Egyptian celebrities, including movie star Youssra, visited some at Nasser hospital in Cairo.
A Saudi plane landed Sunday at el-Arish airport near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip to transfer eight casualties to Saudi Arabia for care. A flight from the United Arab Emirates also landed at el-Arish with medical supplies to be taken by land to Gaza, and Bahrain announced it, too, was sending a medical team and medical supplies for the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, the demonstrations continued.
More than 2,000 students at al-Azhar University in Cairo and 7,000 at Cairo University demonstrated on their campuses, calling for an end to relations with Israel and urging Arab leaders to adopt a unified stand in support of the Palestinian people.
Several anti-Israeli demonstrations were held Sunday in Yemen, where tens of thousands walked to the U.N. office in the capital of San'a, demanding the agency help end the killings. One police officer was injured outside the U.N. office when a protester's stone hit his forehead.
The demonstrators then headed to the U.S. Embassy, shouting "America wake up! There will be no America after today!" Security was tighter than usual, but after a few minutes the crowd dispersed peacefully.
About 150 Palestinians also demonstrated in San'a, carrying their national flags and pictures of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Yemeni students in the capital burned Israeli flags.
In Jordan, riot police confronted Jordan University students who tried to leave their campus to march to the Israeli Embassy. Reports of arrests varied, with Interior Ministry officials saying nobody had been arrested and students saying there had been 17 arrests. An Associated Press reporter saw three people being driven away by police.
In an apparent protest against the violence, Jordan delayed the departure of its new ambassador to Israel. Government officials said Abdul-Illah al-Kurdi would remain in Jordan until "conditions are ripe" for him to assume duties at the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv.
In Morocco, some of the half-million people who demonstrated in the capital, Rabat, carried banners condemning "Zionist aggression." Prime Minister Abderrahamane Youssoufi and a handful of ministers were at the head of the gigantic crush of marchers.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said Arafat must call a stop to the trouble by Monday evening or the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will be abandoned. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa responded Sunday, saying "we are not afraid of the Israeli threats.... I think that the policy of threats will only bring harm to all parties, including the threatening party."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, criticized Yemeni President Ali Abullah Saleh's recent call for war against Israel.
"We should be serious about what we say because declaring a war is not simple," Mubarak said. "We should try to find a way to salvage the deteriorating situation. War does not solve a problem."
Mubarak added that most Arab leaders have accepted invitations to a summit to be held Oct. 21 in Cairo to discuss the situation and Arab unity.
