Sunday, December 31, 2017

Temple Mount Tempest

Jordan, whose state-directed news agencies have employed language of incitement against Israel over it permitting Jews to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, visit - not pray - now has another antagonist over the holy site:

Amman is reportedly frustrated with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s new agenda, namely his desire to strip the Hashemite Kingdom of its custodianship over the Temple Mount, according to the Haaretz daily.

On Friday, there was this in Jordan:

Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets of downtown Amman on Friday in protest against the decision by US president Donald Trump to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

Waving Jordanian and Palestinian national flags and carrying banners, the protesters denounced the Trump’s decision and expressed their solidarity with Jerusalem...

“God willing, the Zionists will leave the city. Jerusalem will definitely be liberated.” 

Jordan is the recognized custodian of Jerusalem's Islamic holy sites and Christian ones too, as per self-pronouncement and the 1013 agreement signed with the Palestinian Authority. * And Saudi Arabia of the Two Mosques of Mecca and Medina.

While researching for this post, I discovered something of a "of a "Wow. Just wow!" quality.


"On 21 August 1969, a painful incident took place in Al Aqsa Mosque, when a Jewish extremist barged into the holy site and set it on fire."

He was Christian.

Oh, and as for any "frustration" in Jordan-Saudi Arabia relations, besides rumors, I did find this:

Jordan has banned the import of frozen poultry from Saudi Arabia following the outbreak of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.  The precautionary measure seeks to protect the country’s poultry stock and also protect public health, the Ministry of Agriculture, which placed the ban, said.

The only other item that relates to the "frustration" perhaps is in Rami Khouri's piece.  He used this language therein:

Saudi threats and intimidation

a heavy-handed power play to force Palestine and Jordan to follow Saudi orders.

crude but brutal political message to Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas on how to behave on the Jerusalem issue and regional alignments.

*
The Hashemite attention to Jerusalem was not limited to restoring Islamic holy sites. It also involved building colleges, religious schools and centres to safeguard heritage, including:

The Dawa and Religious Studies College in Jerusalem, established in 1978
The Islamic Sciences College in Jerusalem, established in 1975
The Islamic Sciences College in Qalqilya, established in 1978
Al Aqsa Secondary School for Islamic Jurisprudence, established in 1958
A school for Islamic jurisprudence in Jenin, established in 1975
The Islamic Jurisprudence School in Hebron, established in 1962
The Islamic Jurisprudence School in Nablus, established in 1962
The Islamic Archaeology Department in Jerusalem, established in 1977
The Islamic Heritage Revival Department in Jerusalem, established in 1978

^

1 comment:

ailurophile said...


Yisrael Medad, although you came to Israel after the Six-Day-War, I am sure you are aware of the fact that "Jordan is the recognized custodian of Jerusalem's Islamic holy sites and Christian ones too..." due to the naivety (stupidity) of Moshe Dayan, who gave the keys over to the Wakf after the Six-Day-War. This was a case of Israel shooting itself in the foot but at the time this "glorious war hero" could do no wrong in the eyes of the Israeli public. (The real hero, in my opinion, was Yitzhak Rabin but Dayan never hesitated to grab someone else's glory and promote himself. )