Jordan sends letter warning Israel over Temple Mount

"Al Arab Al Yawm" reports Jordan has called on Netanyahu's government to maintain status quo in capital.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Israeli police officers stand guard on the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's Old City (photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli police officers stand guard on the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's Old City
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Jordanian government sent an official letter to Israel warning against making any changes to the status quo in Jerusalem.
The letter called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry out its duty to prevent “attacks” by “the herds of extremists and settlers” on al-Aksa Mosque, a Jordanian newspaper reported on Monday.
This message accompanied parallel contacts Jordan made with the US administration on the same subject, according to a report in Al-Arab Al-Yawm.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan returned home on Sunday from Egypt after discussing the issue with its president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The talks dealt mainly with international and regional efforts to combat terrorism, The Jordan Times reported.
The two leaders also discussed reviving peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis in order to achieve a two-state solution.
The Jordanian king raised the issue of Jerusalem and briefed Sisi on his country’s efforts to “defend” the holy sites there and counter Israeli acts of “targeting” al-Aksa Mosque, said the report.
A Jordanian MP said in a discussion regarding parliament’s moment of silence and reading verses from the Koran for the two Palestinian terrorists who murdered five Israelis and injured others in an attack at a Jerusalem synagogue: “Our people in Palestine expect us to support them, and to recite Koranic verses for the souls of their martyrs,” the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported.
“This is the very least we can do for the sake of those heroes, who defend the honor of the Arab nation,” said MP Khalil Attieh in an interview on Jordanian Roya TV that aired last week.
“By Allah, it is an honor to incite against the Jews. It is a great accomplishment to provoke and incense them.”
“Hating the Jews is a great honor for me and it makes me walk with my head high, because they are worthy of hatred,” said the Jordanian MP.
Another MP, Bassam al-Manaseer, chairman of the Arab and International Affairs Parliamentary Committee, asked, “Are we going to call the French who fought the Nazi occupation ‘terrorists’? If so, we are all terrorists.”
Manaseer added, “If what we did in parliament is considered incitement, just because we stood by the Palestinian people, then we welcome the policy of incitement.
I thank brother Khalil Attieh for his heroic position.
That is the very least that he can do for our people in Palestine.”
The moderator raised the issue of comments made by the Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Daniel Navo, criticizing the Jordanian parliament.
The show moderator said to the parliamentarians, “The [Israeli] ambassador said that you use anti-Israel sentiment as a means to serve your own personal interests.”
Attieh responded harshly, “Indeed, I make use of the hatred of the Jews, as all Arabs should, because the Jews respect neither treaties nor human beings. They respect nothing.”
“That accursed ambassador did me a great honor by saying that I hate the Jews. Yes, I hate the Jews. I hate the Jews. I hate the Jews,” he exclaimed, according to MEMRI.
“They kill our people. They prevent worshipers from entering al-Aksa Mosque. They destroy homes and seize control over everything,” Attieh said, adding: “This is the least we could have done. Thank God that we got them mad.”
“Parliament should debate the statements of [the Israeli ambassador], that pig, the descendant of apes and pigs, who tried to drive a wedge between the parliament and the king,” he continued.
“We should hold a debate, and if the government refuses to expel the Israeli ambassador, we should hand in our vote of no confidence in the government.”
Separately, in front of parliament on Sunday, Jordanian activists protested against signing a gas deal with Israel, The Jordan Times reported. The protesters also submitted a petition to lawmakers.
“We are here to say no to buying gas from the enemy. We reject that the government buys gas from the occupation and supports its economy,” Hisham al-Bustani, a representative of the Jordanian Coordination Committee against Importing Gas from Israel, told The Jordan Times at the protest.
Jordan and Israel intend to finalize a 15-year gas deal worth $15 billion.