Taghreed Saadeh
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry today summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman after Israeli police intercepted the Jordanian ambassador while entering Al Aqasa Mosque compound in the occupied West Bank city of East Jerusalem.
Ministry Spokesperson Sinan Majali stated that the Israeli ambassador Eitan Surkis had been informed with a strongly worded letter for immediate transmission to his government, where the letter affirmed the Jordanian government’s condemnation of all measures aimed at unacceptable interference in the affairs of Al Aqsa Mosque, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Majali added that the letter also reminds Israel that the Jordan-run Jerusalem Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department has the exclusive authority to administer the holy site’s affairs and manage entries to the site.
The spokesperson said that the letter stressed the importance of Israel, as an occupying power, to adhere to its commitments as per international law, mainly international humanitarian law, regarding Jerusalem and its holy sites, mainly Al Aqsa Mosque.
The letter also urged Israel to abstain from any procedures that tamper with the sanctity of the holy sites and to put an end to attempts to alter the historical and legal status quo or meddle in the affairs of the Jerusalem Awqaf and Aqsa Affairs Department.
Israeli police barred Jordanian ambassador Ghassan Majali entry to the mosque compound via the Lions’ Gate, also known as Bab al-Asbat, stopping him, alleging that he required authorization to enter the premises and eventually asking him to leave.
The diplomat slammed barring him entry to the site as an attempt to alter the status quo at the holy site and undermine Jordan’s status and role as the custodian of the holy sites in the occupied city.
he relationship between Jordan and the Israeli occupation government witnessed severe tension during the past weeks, following the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is under Jordanian tutelage, by the Minister of Security of the occupation, Itamar Ben Gvir, last week. The Israeli ambassador to Amman, Eitan Surkis, was summoned and handed a note of protest against this step.
Today, Tuesday, the Israeli occupation police said that they did not prevent the Jordanian ambassador from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, but rather he was delayed for a short period due to lack of prior coordination about the visit, so he decided to leave.
He continued: “The ambassador was not denied entry, but he decided at a certain stage to leave the place on his own initiative, during the process of speaking to the policeman with his commander and receiving the appropriate instructions. If he had waited a few more seconds, he would have entered the Temple Mount area.”
Under the 1994 peace treaty, Israel recognized Jordan’s “special role in the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.”
For its part, thePalestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the occupation police’s interception of the Jordanian ambassador as he entered Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In a statement today, Tuesday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry considered that these measures are an extension of attempts to perpetuate the occupation’s illegal interventions in everything related to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards, and its continuous measures to change the existing historical, political and legal situation in Al-Aqsa.
The Ministry affirmed that all the occupation’s measures against Al-Aqsa are illegal and provocative interventions, and an assault on the powers of the Jerusalem Endowment Administration and the Affairs of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque of the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, as it has the exclusive competence to manage all the affairs of the Haram, in light of the Hashemite commandments on Christian and Islamic sanctities. in Jerusalem.
In a related context, the occupation forces detained the director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, and searched him while he was entering the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque today.