Jordan summons Israeli envoy over Temple Mount

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned Israel’s envoy for a reprimand over Israeli actions on the Temple Mount on Monday.

The Israeli ambassador was out of the country, so Israeli Deputy Ambassador Sami Abu Janeb will take part in the meeting.

Last week, Palestinians stockpiled rocks and fireworks in the al-Aqsa Mosque, launching them at police officers and at Jews praying at the Western Wall below the Temple Mount. Police entered the compound, making arrests and trying to quell the violence. The events occurred repeatedly in the ensuing days, and Palestinian attacks on Israelis in and around the Old City of Jerusalem increased.

Jordan’s royal family is the custodian of holy sites in Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem Islamic Wakf that administers the al-Aqsa Mosque is a Jordanian authority. When Israel and Jordan made peace in 1994, Israel committed to “respect the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah II told his government to work to “stop Israeli escalations,” and called on Israel to respect the “historical and legal status-quo at the al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif and cease all illegal and provocative measures that violate it and could push toward further escalation.”