Jordan convened on Wednesday an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League on the incidents at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, between the Israeli police and hundreds of Palestinians, official sources announced.
The request for the meeting was made in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, “shortly after Israeli forces invaded the holy site and attacked Muslim worshipers,” according to the official Jordanian news agency Petra.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali warned that “continued violations and attacks on holy sites could lead to further escalation.”
The spokesman blamed Israel “for the protection of the faithful in the Al-Aqsa mosque and for the disastrous consequences of this escalation,” reported the Spanish news agency EFE.
Jordan is the guardian of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem, although Israel controls access and visits to these sites under peace agreements signed by the two countries in 1994.
Police entered the mosque at dawn and confronted Palestinians who had barricaded themselves in the temple with stones and fireworks, according to an Israeli spokesman.
Israeli authorities said police unsuccessfully tried to negotiate the evacuation of the mosque, prompting the officers to enter the temple, “where they were met with violence.”
An Israeli army spokesman said the situation on the Mosque Square, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, was now calm.
“Muslim worshipers and tourists have returned to the area for morning prayers,” the same spokesman said.
Israeli police said they had detained more than 300 Palestinians at the mosque, while the official Palestinian agency Wafa reported more than 400 arrests and dozens injured.
The incidents were condemned by the Palestinian Authority, the Islamist Hamas movement (which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007) and countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Morocco.
The secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, considered that “irresponsible actions in holy places affect the religious sentiments of millions of Muslims around the world, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.”
The former head of Egyptian diplomacy urged the UN Security Council to “act quickly so that Israel stops this dangerous escalation” and warned of the danger of an outbreak of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said he was “appalled by the images of violence inside the mosque.”
“I am concerned about the apparent beating of the Palestinians by the Israeli security forces and the large number of arrests,” Wennesland said in a statement quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE.
Wennesland also rejected “the storage and use of firecrackers and stones by Palestinians” inside the mosque, calling for the “status quo” of Jerusalem’s holy sites to be maintained.
“Leaders of all parties must act responsibly and avoid steps that could escalate tensions,” he added.
Source: TSF
