Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets on Friday demanding an end to the country‘s 18-year-old peace treaty with Israel.

According to a report by the dpa news agency, in a series of nationwide protests, demonstrators urged Amman to cut ties with the Jewish State.

The protesters burned Israeli flags and chanted “death, death to Israel”, the report said.

The protests took place in seven cities across the country, and the protesters urged authorities to expel the Israeli ambassador from Amman, chanting “no to a Zionist embassy on our land.”

Protest organizers, including the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and youth movements, told dpa the demonstrations came as a direct response to King Abdullah‘s recent nomination of Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh, who served as a key figure in the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace process.

Various political and social groups have expressed outrage over comments recently made by Tarawneh indicating that, if given a second chance, he would still support the controversial peace treaty.

“This is a person who obviously does not respect the people‘s will and his words are proof of how out of touch he is with average citizens,” Jamil Abu Baker, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, told dpa.

Tarawneh was appointed prime minister last week, after the resignation of 62-year-old Awn Khasawneh, an International Court of Justice judge who formed his cabinet last October and resigned just six months later.

On Wednesday, Tarawneh’s cabinet, which is tasked with pushing for reforms, was sworn in.

Jordanians have been demonstrating since January of last year, demanding sweeping political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption, as part of the Arab Spring protests.

The dpa report noted that Friday’s protests marked a departure from activists‘ usual demands for democratic reforms.