PA mufti: No room for non-Muslims on Temple Mount

DECEMBER 16, 2020 07:00

The Palestinian Authority Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, on Tuesday warned of attempts by Jewish groups to establish a presence on the Temple Mount.

Hussein told the Palestinian news agency Khabar that the entire holy site is Islamic and belongs only to Muslims.

“We affirm, time and again, that the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque, with its entire area of 144 dunams [144,000 sq.m.], is Islamic and only for Muslims,” he said. “There is no place for non-Muslims in any way in this mosque, whether through schools, churches or other places of worship.”

Jordan, meanwhile, has again condemned visits by Jews to the Temple Mount as a “reckless provocation and a violation of international law and the legal and historical status quo.”

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said that it “denounces the continued Israeli violations at al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif.”

Referring to visits by Jews to the compound, the ministry said: “Under the protection of the Israeli forces, extremists recently stormed the holy site. These rejected and reckless provocations are a violation of international law and the legal and historical status quo, which breach Israel’s obligations as the occupying power in east Jerusalem.”

The Jordanian-controlled Wakf Islamic religious trust in Jerusalem is exclusively authorized to supervise the holy site’s affairs and manage its entries, the statement added.