In a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House, US President Joe Biden emphasized his support for the legal “status quo” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Biden discussed the rising tensions surrounding the site, which is revered by both Muslims and Jews in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, during a private lunch with the king and Crown Prince Hussein on Thursday. He also reiterated “the critical need to preserve the historic status quo.”
A long-standing arrangement permits non-Muslims to visit the location at particular hours but prohibits them from praying there. Jews refer to the complex as the Temple Mount, and Jordan was acknowledged as its keeper.
Growing numbers of Jews, mostly Israeli nationalists, have been secretly praying there in recent years, infuriating Palestinians.
This is true notwithstanding a ban on Jewish prayer within the compound imposed by orthodox Judaism.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister in Israel’s new far-right government, visited the area in January, prompting a wave of international criticism. Palestinians were alarmed by the prospect of any change in the long-term status of a place they regarded as a national symbol.
Jordan, which oversees the Waqf Department, the sole agency in charge of overseeing sacred sites in Jerusalem, claimed last month that the Jordanian envoy had been denied access to the location.
According to a statement from the White House, Biden acknowledged Jordan’s “crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem” and reaffirmed the close friendship between the US and the Hashemite Kingdom.
He also congratulated King Abdullah for “the role he and Jordan play as a force for stability in the Middle East” and underlined his “strong support for a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Despite what observers perceive as the new far-right government’s increasingly harsh policies towards Palestinians and the mounting bloodshed in the occupied West Bank, Biden did not offer any substantial criticism of the Israeli position.
Instead, according to media sources, the US has pressed the Palestinian Authority to take more action against Palestinian armed organizations, placing little focus on Israeli military raids, which have claimed the lives of at least 200 Palestinians in the past year.
In order to “reaffirm US commitment to Iraq,” Biden also spoke on the phone on Thursday with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, according to the White House.
Al-“efforts Sudani’s to strengthen Iraq’s sovereignty and independence” were praised by Biden, who also endorsed the nation’s “economic agenda and plans to make sure that Iraq’s economy is providing for the needs of the Iraqi people.”
ISIL (ISIS) cannot “threaten the security of the Iraqi people or the stability of the region,” according to Biden and al-Sudani.
Additionally, King Abdullah reaffirmed “Jordan’s support for Iraq, including through cooperative strategic infrastructure projects.”
