From Andalou Agency:
Jordan on Monday condemned an Israeli Supreme Court decision to consider a request by an extremist Jewish group to allow Jewish prayer in East Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.
“This idea has already been ruled out,” Jordanian Minister of Religious Endowments Abdul Nasser Abu al-Basal was quoted as saying by Jordan’s Petra News Agency.
“The courts of the [Israeli] occupation have no jurisdiction or authority over Al-Aqsa,” he added.
Abu al-Basal made the remarks after Israel’s Supreme Court announced it would “look into” a request by an extremist Jewish group to overturn a longstanding ban on Jewish prayer inside the mosque compound.
Since 2003, the Israeli authorities have allowed Jewish settlers to enter Al-Aqsa in increasing numbers. Nevertheless, they remain forbidden from performing prayers or religious rituals inside the site.
Abu al-Basal, for his part, warned of the consequences of any decision by the Israeli authorities that would “harm the site’s Islamic character… and provoke the feelings of Muslims worldwide”.
The 1994 Wadi Araba Agreement (a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel) mandated Jordan’s Religious Endowments Authority with overseeing all Muslim and Christian holy sites in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.
For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the “Temple Mount”, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Jordan is lying about the Wadi Araba agreement. Article 9 says the opposite, that access to religious sites be free for all religions:
1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.
2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.
3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.
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