Jordan's electoral authority on Tuesday set January 23 as the date for a general election, state media said, after King Abdullah II dissolved parliament in a bid to pave the way for sweeping reforms.

"In line with a royal decree to hold the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Independent Election Commission decided today to set the vote for Wednesday, January 23," the commission said in a statement carried by Petra news agency.

More than two million voters have registered for Jordan's parliamentary elections due to take place by the end of 2012, the independent electoral commission announced on Monday.

"2.27 million voters registered... or 70 percent of the electorate, by the close of registration," commission spokesman Hussein Abu Hani told Agence France Presse.

Israeli defense officials have pledged to lift a ban on Palestinian travel between the Jordan Valley and the rest of the West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Monday.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said that in response to its requests, the military had decided to ease rules under which only registered Palestinian residents of the valley, which runs along the West Bank's eastern flank, can pass through military checkpoints at the entrance to the sector.

King Abdullah II on Thursday swore in a 21-strong cabinet a day after he named pro-reform politician Abdullah Nsur to form a government tasked with preparing for legislative polls.

The swearing in ceremony comes a week after the king dissolved parliament and called early elections, which he says he wants to be held by the end of the year although no date has been set for the polls.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday designated veteran politician Abdullah Nsur to form a new government after prime minister Fayez Tarawneh and his government resigned ahead of legislative polls.

"The king today accepted the resignation of Fayez Tarawneh's government and asked Nsur to form a new government," a senior palace official told AFP.

The U.S. military has sent a task force to Jordan to help it handle an influx of Syrian refugees and prepare for scenarios including loose chemical weapons, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Times said the 150-strong force of planners and specialists -- led by a senior U.S. officer -- was looking at ways to prevent the increasingly bloody Syrian civil war from spilling across Jordan's borders.

Thousands of Islamists demonstrated in central Amman to demand reforms on Friday, just hours after King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early polls without any major political change.

"We demand constitutional reform before the people revolt. The people want to reform the regime," they chanted in the demonstration held outside Al-Husseini mosque in downtown Amman.

Jordan's King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early elections on Thursday, the royal palace announced on the eve of a major rally by the Islamist opposition to demand reforms.

"The king has decided to dissolve the chamber of deputies from this Thursday and to call early elections," a statement said. It gave no date, but the monarch has said he wants polls to be held by the end of 2012.

A demonstration in support of Jordan's King Abdullah II has been called off over fears of unrest as it coincides with a pro-reform rally by the Islamist opposition on Friday, organizers said.

"We have postponed indefinitely our demonstration scheduled at the same time as the Muslim Brotherhood's to avoid any problems," said Jihad al-Sheik, head of an Internet-based youth group that organized the event.

Jordanian riot police used tear gas to disperse Syrian refugees at a camp in the north of the country who set fire to tents and destroyed property in protest at their living conditions, a charity said Tuesday.

"Some 500 refugees demonstrated against their living conditions in the Zaatari camp," said Zayed Hammad, president of the charitable Muslim association Kitab wal Sunna, which provides aid for tens of thousands of refugees.