Arab and Muslim officials meeting in Amman on Wednesday condemned what they described as an Israeli \u201cescalation\u201d in \u201cthe occupied city of Jerusalem,\u201d including what they called the \u201cinflammatory\u201d statements and actions of extremist settlers and Israeli government ministers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy sites, Jordan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers and representatives from Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Qatar<\/a>, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, and Morocco, together with the secretary-general of the League of Arab States, agreed to condemn recent Israeli policies and measures that they claimed were intended to alter the \u201cArab, Islamic, and Christian identity\u201d of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n The participants alleged that Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque<\/a> compound, which sits atop the Temple Mount \u2013 holy to Judaism as the site of the First and Second Temples \u2013 included attempts to \u201calter its historic and legal status quo and impose temporal and spatial division.\u201d<\/p>\n They also accused Israel of facilitating what they described as escalating incursions by extremist settlers, Israeli ministers and officials; restricting worshippers\u2019 access to the mosque; assaulting worshippers; obstructing the work of the Jerusalem Awqaf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department; and conducting illegal excavations beneath the mosque and in its vicinity.<\/p>\n Temple Mount tensions remain in focus<\/p>\n Thousands of Jews, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, ascended the Temple Mount in recent weeks to mark the fast of Tisha B\u2019Av, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples.<\/p>\n Under the longstanding status quo, Jews and Christians are permitted to visit the Temple Mount but are generally prohibited from praying there, while Muslims are permitted to worship. Israeli police detained dozens of Jewish visitors on Tisha B\u2019Av after they allegedly violated restrictions on prayer by reciting the Shema.<\/p>\n In January, Israel Police began relaxing some restrictions on Jewish prayer at the site, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). Jewish visitors may now enter with a single printed prayer page prepared in advance, although prayer books remain prohibited.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a constant threat, a dangerous threat that we\u2019re trying to counter in every tool that we have possible,\u201d Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the British newspaper The Guardian. \u201cWe warn that tampering with the status quo… could trigger a religious conflict that will reverberate beyond Palestine and Jordan into the whole Muslim world.\u201d<\/p>\n The representatives also reaffirmed their position that East Jerusalem is part of Palestinian territory and should serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state, arguing that this is necessary for a two-state solution, which they described as \u201cthe only path to achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIsraeli attacks against Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem constitute a blatant provocation to the sentiments of around two billion Muslims worldwide, and push toward a religious conflict with repercussions that will extend beyond the region and threaten regional and international peace and security,\u201d they warned.<\/p>\n Christian holy sites also raised<\/p>\n The Muslim leaders also condemned what they described as \u201cIsraeli violations\u201d targeting Christian holy sites and \u201cthreatening the historic Christian presence in Jerusalem,\u201d citing restrictions on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre<\/a> imposed in March as part of wartime security measures across the country. The restrictions were implemented amid heightened security concerns following Iranian missile attacks, and after a fragment from an intercepted Iranian ballistic missile fell on the church, damaging its roof.<\/p>\n The statement also accused Israeli authorities of interfering in church affairs, imposing restrictions on Christian institutions and properties, and allowing attacks against worshippers and Christian symbols, although it did not provide specific examples.<\/p>\n