The Israeli ambassador has been summoned by Jordan in protest at police harassment of the foreign minister’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Israeli representative received “a strongly worded letter of protest to be delivered promptly to his administration,” according to a statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the letter contained a reminder that the only entity in charge of overseeing holy sites in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, is the Jordan-run Jerusalem Waqf Department.
According to ministry spokeswoman Sinan Majali, “Israel, as an occupying power, must uphold its commitments under international law and the international humanitarian law towards the occupied city of Jerusalem and its sanctuaries, especially the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
In occupied Jerusalem, Israel must “put a halt to attempts to change the historic status quo,” he stressed.
Witnesses report that Israeli police stopped the Jordanian ambassador Ghassan Majali at the Lion’s Gate (Bab al-Asbat), on the northern side of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and barred him from entering on the grounds of a lack of cooperation.
The area is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary (al-Haram al-Sharif), while Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount. It is located on a vast plateau and is also home to the iconic golden Dome of the Rock.
For his part, Majali was reportedly at the holy site “without any prior consultation with police officials,” according to the Israeli police, which led a security guard at the compound entry who did not recognize the ambassador to inform his commander about the unannounced visit. Officers detained Majali and Azzam al-Khatib, the head of the Jerusalem Waqf, as they awaited orders. According to Israeli authorities, the ambassador declined to wait and made the decision to go.
The police stressed that “coordination” with Israeli police was customary before such visits, adding that the group would have entered “had the ambassador briefly waited a few more minutes for the officer to be updated.”
Majali can be seen in a video that has been widely posted online praying at the Old City’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s limestone Lion’s Gate alongside other Muslim worshipers. The footage shows an Israeli policeman blocking his way and ordering Majali to turn around in Arabic. The visitors argue with the officers as Al-Khatib answers the phone over the crackle of the policeman’s walkie-talkie.
Two hours later, according to Jordan’s state-run media, Majali eventually entered the compound without displaying any sort of authorization and spoke with al-Khatib, who “briefed him about the Israeli violations in Al-Aqsa,” according to the report.
Jordan has characterized the action as an extraordinary provocation and stated that because Jordan is the official custodian, no authorization is required for Jordanian authorities to approach the monument. Israel has also been forewarned by the kingdom not to “take any activities that would harm the sanctity of the sacred places.”
The Israeli foreign ministry did not respond right away.
The Israeli ambassador to Jordan was called to Amman on Tuesday for the second time since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right and religiously conservative cabinet came to office. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s ultranationalist minister of national security, visited the holy site in Jerusalem earlier this month despite threats from Hamas and a wave of criticism from the Arab world.
Since 1924, Jordan has been recognized by the public as the official custodian of Jerusalem’s sacred sites for both Muslims and Christians.
The third-holiest place in the world according to Muslims is Al-Aqsa. Jews refer to the region as the Temple Mount and claim that two Jewish temples formerly stood there.
Al-Aqsa was occupied by Israel in East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. In an action that was never acknowledged by the international community, it annexed the entire city in 1980.
