AMMAN –– Jordan stands united on Jerusalem and
custodianship over the Muslim and
Christian religious sites in the occupied
city, Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh said Monday, according to the Jordan
News Agency, Petra.
اضافة اعلان
Addressing lawmakers during a
Lower House session, the
prime minister saluted Palestinians and employees of the Jordan-administered
Jerusalem Awqaf (endowments) religious authority, in resisting right-wing
Israelis desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram Al Sharif complex under the
protection of Israeli occupation forces.
Safeguarding the holy shines and the Arab identity of
Jerusalem is a noble task to which
His Majesty King Abdullah dedicates all of Jordan's
resources, based on an unwavering position that East Jerusalem is occupied land
over which Palestinians have sovereignty, and Jordan is the custodian of its
holy sites, Khasawneh said.
He pointed to a virtual meeting chaired by the King
yesterday during which he directed the government to intensify diplomacy with
regional countries and world powers to deter Israel from its provocations at
the mosque.
The premier said Jordan had diplomatically engaged
with all parties, including Israel, to maintain calm in Palestine and the West
Bank and ensure no harm comes to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"We saw on Saturday the most dangerous
manifestations in attempts at the temporal and spatial division of
Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which we confronted and will not allow it to happen,
and will stand up to all such attempts with all our resources," he said,
referring to an Israeli police attack on worshippers and guards.
Israel is fully responsible for any consequences of the escalation in Jerusalem...
He said ongoing Israeli attempts to alter the
historical and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif and impose
a temporal and spatial division are a "dangerous escalation and
violation" of the international law and a breach of Israel's obligations
as the occupying power.
Israel, he stressed, is fully responsible for any
consequences of the escalation in
Jerusalem, which undermines all efforts to
maintain calm and prevent violence from spreading, which threatens security and
peace not only in the West Bank or Al-Aqsa, but peace in the entire world.
Khasawneh dismissed Israel's justification that police
have the right to arrange visits by non-Muslims to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex,
one of Islam's holiest shrines, stressing that organizing such visits is the
sole right of the Awqaf Administration under the existing historical and legal
status in Jerusalem, which Israel is trying to change.
He cited a key provision of the historical and legal
status quo that Muslims have the exclusive right to pray and worship at Al-Aqsa
Mosque with all its area of 144 dunums.
The prime minister said that churches advocate the
rules of peace and coexistence, which underline that Al-Aqsa Mosque is for
Muslims alone, just as the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre is for Christians
alone, pointing out that Muslims have for centuries preserved the right of Jews
to pray in their temples and synagogues.
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