Jordan stands up to Israeli aggressions against al Aqsa Mosque

Jordan is standing up to the ongoing Israeli aggressions and violations against the Al Aqsa Mosque and Islamic endowments in Jerusalem, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Hayel Abd Alhafeez Dawood said on Monday. He added that one of the most dangerous escalations was a recent Israeli decision to divide the Al Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and extremist Jews to allow the latter to pray in the mosque when Muslims are not performing their prayers. The minister told Petra that his ministry urged the Jordanian authorities to contact the concerned international agencies to stop the planned Israeli measures in Jerusalem. Upon Jordan’s request, Jerusalem was included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage in 1981, the minister added. “Jordan has reiterated its severe condemnation of the Israeli forces’ assault on worshippers in the Al Aqsa Mosque following Friday Prayers and firing bullets and tear gas canisters inside the mosque,” Dawood said, adding that any permission granted by the Israeli forces to extremist settlers to enter Bab Al Maghariba would trigger religious conflict and provoke the sentiments of all Muslims. The Israeli occupation authorities, he noted, are pressing ahead with work on a road leading to Bab Al Maghariba despite Jordan’s objection and its 2011 proposal to the UNESCO to solve the conflict regarding the road. The World Heritage Committee asked the Israeli authorities to stop work on the road in the area leading to one of the main gates of Al Aqsa Mosque, which is an Islamic waqf property (endowment), he added. On Jordanian support for the holy sites in Palestine, the minister said that His Majesty King Abdullah II donated $3.5 million to the Hashemite Fund for the Reconstruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock to help execute its schemes in Jerusalem.