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Israel promised Jordan that it won’t allow Jewish people to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, just as several Jewish extremists tried to advance to the compound.
With clashes raging currently in many Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied east Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II over the phone to personally assure him that there won’t be a change in the decades-old status quo.
Only 24 hours earlier, Israeli police and Palestinians faced off at the mosque in a tense confrontation, prompting Jordan to recall its Israeli ambassador.
“I spoke today to King Abdullah of Jordan and we agreed that we will make every effort to calm the situation. I explained to him that we’re keeping the status quo on the Temple Mount and that this includes Jordan’s traditional role there”, he said, referring to the compound using Israel’s name for it.
As things stand, Jewish people can visit the compound’s esplanade but can’t pray there as it could cause friction at one of Middle East’s most holy sites.
King Abdullah “recalled that Jordan firmly rejected any measure undermining the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa mosque”, his palace said in a statement.
Jordan has been the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound as well as several other Muslim holy sites in east Jerusalem since the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. Concerns that Israel will change the legislation have sparked in recent weeks of unrest at the site.
As Netanyahu spoke, over a hundred Jewish extremists gathered near the Old City to march “to the gates of the Temple Mount”.
“We are proudly marching with high heads to the direction of the Temple Mount. God willing, we’ll get there”, the march’s organizer Ariel Groner told AFP. Demonstrators started marching towards the Western Wall, but said that they would not try to enter the esplanade situated just over it.