Israel’s ambassador to Amman, Amir Weissbrod, was summoned and reprimanded by the Jordanian foreign ministry due to ongoing tensions over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount – known to Muslim as the Haram al-Sharif and atop which sits the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In a subsequent statement, the ministry expressed its “condemnation and rejection of the Israeli violations” at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews. Clashes broke out last week at the compound after some 80,000 Muslims held morning prayers marking the beginning of the festival of Eid al-Adha. The violence erupted despite an initial decision by Israeli authorities to ban Jews from the Temple Mount for the fast of Tisha B’Av, the day on the Hebrew calendar that both biblical temples are said to have been destroyed more than two thousand years ago. Jordanian officials told Weissbrod that such “absurd provocations” were “inflaming” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and violated international law. Amman also stressed its opposition to changing the “status quo” at the holy place, where Muslims are permitted to pray freely whereas Jews are only granted limited access and are prohibited from worshipping. Under their 1994 peace treaty, Israel recognized Jordan as the custodian of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s other holy sites.
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