Jordan has summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest police obstruction of the nation’s envoy throughout his go to to Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Jordanian overseas ministry stated the Israeli envoy was handed “a strongly-worded letter of protest to be delivered instantly to his authorities”.
The letter included a reminder that the Jordan-run Jerusalem Waqf Division is the unique authority supervising holy websites in Jerusalem, together with Al-Aqsa Mosque, the assertion stated.
“Israel, as an occupying energy, should adhere to its obligations below worldwide regulation and the worldwide humanitarian regulation in the direction of the occupied metropolis of Jerusalem and its sanctities, particularly the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque,” ministry spokesman Sinan Majali stated.
Israel should “put a cease to makes an attempt to alter the historic established order” in occupied Jerusalem, he added.
In keeping with witnesses, the Jordanian ambassador Ghassan Majali was stopped by Israeli police on the Lion’s Gate (Bab al-Asbat), on the northern aspect of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and prevented from getting into the positioning on claims of lack of coordination.
The positioning, sitting on a sprawling plateau additionally residence to the long-lasting golden Dome of the Rock, is revered by Muslims because the Noble Sanctuary (al-Haram al-Sharif) and by Jews because the Temple Mount.
The Israeli police, for its half, stated that Majali arrived on the holy web site “with none prior coordination with police officers”, prompting an officer on the compound entrance who didn’t recognise the diplomat to inform his commander concerning the surprising go to. Whereas awaiting directions, officers held up Majali, together with Azzam al-Khatib, the director of the Jerusalem Waqf. The ambassador refused to attend and determined to go away, Israeli police stated.
“Had the ambassador briefly waited just a few extra minutes for the officer to be up to date, the group would have entered,” the police stated, stressing that “coordination” with Israeli police was routine earlier than such visits.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, stated that the incident goes to the guts of Jordan and Israel’s relationship with regards to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
“There’s something referred to as the established order – an settlement successfully that enables the Jordanians to be custodians of that compound,” he stated. “They are saying they don’t want Israeli police permission to enter the positioning.”
‘Uncommon provocation’
Footage extensively shared on-line exhibits Majali, amongst different Muslim worshippers, on the limestone Lion’s Gate entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound within the Outdated Metropolis. An Israeli police officer blocks his path and yells at Majali in Arabic to return, in accordance with the video. Al-Khatib will get on the telephone because the guests argue with the officers amid the crackle of the policeman’s walkie-talkie.
Some two hours later, Jordanian state-run media reported that Majali lastly entered the compound with out displaying any type of permission and held talks with al-Khatib, who “briefed him concerning the Israeli violations in Al-Aqsa”.
Jordan has described the transfer as an uncommon provocation, and stated Jordanian officers don’t want permission to enter the positioning due to the nation’s function because the official custodian. The dominion has additionally cautioned Israel towards taking “any actions that may prejudice the sanctity of the holy locations”.
There was no quick remark from the Israeli overseas ministry.
Watch: Israeli occupation forces violently stop Jordan’s ambassador to Palestine Ghassan Majali from getting into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, at this time. pic.twitter.com/grJOobK0TP
— Quds Information Community (@QudsNen) January 17, 2023
Tuesday marked the second time that Jordan has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right and religiously conservative authorities took energy. Earlier this month, Israel’s minister of nationwide safety, the ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the Jerusalem holy web site regardless of threats from Hamas and a cascade of condemnations from throughout the Arab world.
Jordan has been the official custodian of Muslim and Christian holy locations in Jerusalem since 1924, and was publicly acclaimed because the custodian of Jerusalem’s holy websites.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest web site. Jews, for his or her half, name the realm the Temple Mount, saying it was the positioning of two Jewish temples in historic occasions.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the place Al-Aqsa is positioned, in the course of the 1967 Arab-Israeli Warfare. It annexed the complete metropolis in 1980, in a transfer by no means recognised by the worldwide neighborhood.
