Foreign Ministers from Arab and Islamic countries were in Jordan on Wednesday to discuss Israel's actions in Jerusalem, in a boost to Amman's position as the custodian of Al Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam.
The countries comprise a committee established by the Arab League in 2017 to counter what it describes as illegal Israeli measures in the city, particularly at Al Aqsa. The committee, which has met several times, is chaired by Jordan.
The discussions “will focus on the latest developments in occupied Jerusalem”, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said. The participants will “seek to formulate a unified position in response to the escalating Israeli measures targeting the city's identity and its religious sanctities”, it added.
Israeli violations at the mosque are "pushing the region toward the explosion of a religious conflict", Mr Al Safadi told the meeting. He said that such danger "cannot be contained' if it materialises.
Representatives of 10 Arab countries attended the meeting. They comprise of a committee established by the Arab League in 2017 to counter what it describes as illegal Israeli measures in the city, particularly at Al Aqsa. The committee, which has met several times, is chaired by Jordan.
Jordan and the other Arab League members regard Al Aqsa as a purely Muslim place of worship. However, Israeli settlers have been increasingly forcing their way into the site since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, to pray and perform religious rites.
Restrictions on Palestinian worshippers entering the site have also increased. Last month, Israeli police built what Jordan described as an illegal canopy inside Al Aqsa grounds, to shelter the settlers when they come in. Israeli demolitions of Palestinian buildings in east Jerusalem and on its outskirts have also increased.
The discussions in Amman were due to "focus on the latest developments in occupied Jerusalem”, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said. The participants will “seek to formulate a unified position in response to the escalating Israeli measures targeting the city's identity and its religious sanctities”, according to the Jordanian foreign ministry.
The foreign ministers of Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia are attending, in addition to 10 Arab countries: Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia, Iraq, Palestine and Morocco. Under a 2017 Arab mandate, the committee is “tasked with co-ordinating international efforts to confront illegal Israeli policies and measures in occupied Jerusalem”.
The complex is administered by an Islamic trust funded and controlled by Jordan in a security arrangement with Israel after they signed the peace treaty in 1994. Under the arrangement, Jews are not allowed to pray in the grounds of the compound but can pray at the nearby Western Wall.
Amman's custodianship of the compound is at the centre of its foreign policy in support of the Palestinians and is a major domestic plank for King Abdullah in a country where a large proportion of the population are of Palestinian origin. The grounds on which Al Aqsa was built is considered holy by Muslims, Jews and Christians, and is a focal point of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Jordan's claim to the right to administer Al Aqsa is based on the custodianship awarded in the 1920s by Palestinian religious leaders to Sharif Hussein bin Ali, a great-grandfather of King Abdullah, who led efforts to raise money in the Middle East and beyond to renovate the mosque. He died in 1931 and is buried in the grounds of Al Aqsa.
