Jordan Times
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Jordan urges world powers to
stop Israel’s Aqsa excavations
JT with AFP dispatches
JORDAN ON WEDNESDAY demanded "serious efforts" at the UN Security Council to
halt Israeli digging near the ultra-sensitive Al Aqsa Mosque compound under
heavy police guard. Israel pressed yesterday with the excavation work, ignoring
protests from Muslim leaders around the world.
Some 2,000 policemen have been deployed across the Old City and around what is
the most contested holy site in the Middle East, revered by Muslims as their
third holiest site.
Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib met in Amman with ambassadors of the EU and
G-8 major powers and urged pressure on Israel to stop the digging, warning of
“dangerous consequences”.
Khatib, meanwhile, denied media reports that Israel consulted Jordan before it
started digging up a path next to the Magharebah Gate.
On Tuesday, King Abdullah warned Israel against its actions, saying the dig
would deal a heavy blow to peace efforts between the Jewish state and Arab
countries. And Jordanian Ambassador to Israel Ali Ayed lodged a complaint and
demanded Israel halt the digging.
Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, who heads the religious courts in the Palestinian
territories, called for a worldwide one-day protest to denounce the works,
preceded by excavations, that Israel insists pose no harm to the compound.
A Palestinian group linked to the Fateh Party threatened to attack synagogues in
retaliation. "If the Zionist enemy and the settlers continue the Aqsa work, we
will target synagogues and other sites in the Jewish faith," announced Al Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigades, which take its name from the Jerusalem compound.
The Israel Antiquities Authority claimed the work, expected to take months, was
to strengthen an access ramp to the Magharebah Gate for the "benefit and safety
of visitors" after damage caused by an earthquake and snowstorms in February
2004.
But the Muslim trust that oversees the compound charges that the Israelis are
levelling a mound which contains two underground rooms connected to the mosque
complex whose destruction risks undermining its foundations.
"The reaction of the Islamic world to this insulting move should be in a way to
make the Zionist regime regret it," state television quoted Iran's supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.
Despite the fury, Israel Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Osnat Gouez said
excavations were continuing and could last weeks, even months.
"It is important to emphasise that this work and these excavations do not affect
the compound at all," she said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni condemned what she described as
"irresponsible elements who know perfectly well that no harm is being caused
here to any holy place".
The compound, which houses both the Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, is the place
where the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 following a controversial
visit by then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon.
In 1996, more than 80 people died in three days of rioting in the Palestinian
territories after then-Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu opened a new entrance
to a controversial archaeological tunnel near the holy sites.
On Wednesday, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, was
arrested after a dispute with officers. In court, he was banned from being
within 150 metres of the Old City walls for 10 days.
Israel continues to limit access to the mosques to Muslim men aged over 45 with
Israeli identity cards and to Muslim women, with Jewish visitors and foreign
tourists banned.
Islamic Movement number two Sheikh Kamel Khatib vowed unrelenting protests.
"We will continue the protests today, tomorrow, after tomorrow. Friday will be a
day of solidarity and anger," he said.
The Israeli press has also joined the chorus of criticism, with an editorial in
top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot accusing the authorities of courting a new
conflict with the Palestinians.
"The volcano in Jerusalem is threatening to erupt once again, and perhaps to
ignite a third Intifada," warned an article entitled: "Playing with Fire".
"All this commotion could have been avoided. The repairs...
could have been carried out in coordination with the Muslim endowments trust,"
it said.