Jordan Times
Monday, February 5, 2007
King warns against damaging
Islamic shrines in Jerusalem
Monarch condemns Israeli attempts near Magharebah Gate, adjacent to Aqsa
Mosque’s Western Wall
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Sunday warned against damaging Islamic holy sites
in occupied Jerusalem.
At a meeting with a delegation of Arab members of the Knesset, the King
condemned Israeli attempts to demolish the road of the Magharebah Gate, adjacent
to the Western Wall of the Aqsa Mosque, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
“Any attempts to change the nature of such holy sites [in Jerusalem] and remove
its Islamic characteristics are condemned,” the King said.
The Monarch said Arab Israeli leaders play a key role in supporting efforts to
revive the peace process.
He added that Jordan was keen to enhance relations with the Arab Israeli
leadership to serve the Palestinian cause.
Meanwhile, Hamas political leader Khaled Mishaal lashed out at Israel for its
attempts to damage the Aqsa.
He told reporters in Damascus that such attempts would make it easier for
Israeli troops to attack the revered Al Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic sites
nearby in the future, according to the Associated Press.
"Israel, which today is playing with fire when it touches the Aqsa, knows the
consequences of this playing with fire," Mishaal said.
He also called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and everywhere to launch a
"comprehensive, popular and continuous action to defend the Aqsa Mosque and
Jerusalem".
Mishaal warned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that this action would mimic
the riots that erupted — then turned into years of uprising — after former
Israeli premier, Ariel Sharon, visited the Aqsa compound in 2000.
"Olmert must learn the lesson... the Israeli military and security command must
learn the lesson of Sharon who sparked the Intifada," Mishaal said.
Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated at the mosque earlier in the day to
protest the Israeli scheme, which is widely perceived in the Arab world as part
of Israel's attempts to demolish the mosque.
The Jordanian Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs issued a statement urging
governments and organisations of the world to “intervene immediately to stop the
dangerous Israeli practices, including a plan by the Israeli government to
remove a hill near the Magharebah Gate”.
The panel charged that the Israeli move was designed to benefit from the
inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a flagrant aggression on an Islamic shrine and Jordan's sovereignty
over it, a violation of the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty and a challenge for
the UN resolutions,” the panel said in its statement.
Also, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and a Saudi-based body of Muslim
scholars condemned Israeli work near the Aqsa Mosque.
"The most serious element is plans to excavate under the walls of the Aqsa
Mosque and its underground tunnels," the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy said in a
statement carried on Saudi state news agency SPA.
"The academy expresses its sorrow about blatant violations of the sanctity of
the mosque, whose existence is threatened," said the Jeddah-based academy, which
groups prominent Sunni and Shiite clerics from around the world.