Amman (AFP)
Jordan announced Sunday that it had summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman to send him "a message of firmness" calling on the Jewish state to cease its "violations" on the site of the mosque esplanade in Jerusalem.
Guardian of Muslim holy places in the holy city, Amman expressed to Amir Weissbrod his "condemnation and rejection of Israeli violations" on the esplanade of the mosques in East Jerusalem, according to a statement from the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Foreign.
On August 11, clashes took place near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Esplanade, between Israeli worshipers and police officers, on the first day of Muslim Eid al-Adha and during the Jewish religious holiday Ticha Beav .
Amman also told Weissbrod that he strongly condemned the statements of Israeli Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan on the situation in Al-Aqsa, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Erdan said last Tuesday that Israel should work to allow Jews to pray on the esplanade of the mosques, as part of "political agreements and not by force," according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
Two days earlier, dozens of Palestinians had been injured in clashes with Israeli security forces, who controlled access to the Esplanade and allowed Jews to enter.
Jews are allowed to go there for specific hours but not to pray in order to avoid stirring up tensions.
Called Noble Sanctuary by the Muslims, Temple Mount by the Jews, the Esplanade of the Mosques is the third holy place of Islam and the most sacred site for the Jews.
At the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the site is located in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian area of the city occupied since 1967 by Israel, which subsequently annexed it without being recognized by the international community.
Nearly two million Palestinians live in Jordan, the only Arab country with Egypt to have concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
© 2019 AFP