Jordan’s King Abdullah II underlined his commitment to “safeguarding” Jerusalem’s holy sites on Sunday (April 2) during a meeting in Amman with the city’s Muslim and Christian religious leaders.
Jordan “will always be with you,” the king assured as he received a delegation led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “It is the duty of every Muslim to deter Israeli escalation against holy sites in Jerusalem,” the ruler added, according to a statement from the Royal Palace.
The meeting came as tensions between Jordan and Israel escalated, following comments by an Israeli minister denying the existence of the Palestinian people and amid fears of an upsurge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the month Ramadan Muslim fast which began on March 23.
The king underlined his commitment to preserving “peace and harmony” within the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, administered by Jordan. This mosque is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
End “repeated attacks on churches”
On Friday, Israeli police killed a 26-year-old Israeli Arab near the Al-Masjid compound, saying he had tried to grab a policeman’s gun, a story disputed by the young man’s family .
On Sunday, King Abdullah also “stressed the need to end the displacement of Christians, as well as the repeated attacks on churches, religious figures and Christian properties in Jerusalem”. He also “called on the international community to take a stand against the racist statements (…) recently made by some Israeli officials,” according to the statement.
Last month, the Jordanian foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador to deliver a “strongly worded letter of protest” following a speech by far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. “There are no Palestinians because there are no Palestinian people,” Smotrich said during a private visit to Paris.