Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly promised King Abdullah II during a previously unannounced meeting between the two in Jordan on Tuesday that the status quo would be preserved on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
According to Channel 12 news, Netanyahu made the promise more than once during the hour-long visit, also assuring that Israel would protect the authority of the Islamic Waqf – a Jordan-appointed council that administers the Temple Mount. The site is the holiest site for Jews as it is home to two Biblical temples, while the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the mountain is Islam’s third holiest shrine, making the area a major flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After a decade-long rule under Jordanian custody, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the Temple Mount at certain times, but not to pray there. In recent years, Jewish religious nationalists, including members of the new ruling coalition, have increasingly visited the site demanding equal prayer rights for Jews there, infuriating Palestinians and Muslims around the world.
A brief diplomatic row erupted between Jerusalem and Amman last week when Jordan’s ambassador to Israel was briefly stopped by police at the entrance to the compound during a visit. Jordan’s foreign ministry has summoned Israeli envoy Eitan Surkis after allegations that Jordanian ambassador Ghassan Majali was “denied entry” and handed him a condemnation letter. Police said that instead of denying Majali entry, officers stopped him briefly because he had not coordinated the visit with them. He later visited the site freely.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu flew to Jordan to meet the Jordanian monarch at their first meeting in over four years, the prime minister’s office said after the visit concluded.
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A diplomatic source told Channel 12 the talks were going well despite being hot on the heels of the diplomatic row and a chilly history between Netanyahu and Abdullah.
Tourists visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, January 3, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
“It was a good meeting that underscored the years of familiarity between the leaders,” the source said.
According to a statement from the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu and Abdullah discussed “strategic, security and economic cooperation” and the importance of the alliance between the countries.
In their reading, the Jordanians focused “on the need to respect and not harm the historical and legal status quo in the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”
The warning came weeks after State Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s first visit to the Temple Mount in office, prompting angry condemnation from the Arab world. Jordan reserved the Israeli ambassador for a dressing.
Ahead of Ben Gvir’s trip, Amman had signaled that a visit by the minister or steps that go against the status quo would have far-reaching consequences, including the possibility of a diplomatic demotion.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount, January 3, 2023. (Courtesy of Minhelet Har Habayit)
At their meeting on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Abdullah discussed fears of possible violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank during the month of Ramadan in March, which overlaps with Passover this year, and the need for calm, Haaretz reported.
Those attending the meeting included Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, National Security Council Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
Bar’s inclusion in the meeting pointed to the excellent relations between the Shin Bet chief and his Jordanian counterpart and the security agencies under her leadership, an important part of both countries’ ability to maintain regional stability, Channel 12 reported.
A diplomatic source privy to the details told the broadcaster that Jordan’s support is needed “to allow the situation to take hold.” [on the Temple Mount and its surroundings] to stay in control before Ramadan.”
During the meeting, Abdullah also underscored his support for a two-state solution that would guarantee a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the capital.
Abdullah was accompanied at the meeting by his foreign minister Ayman Safadi, chief of staff Jaafar Haasan and intelligence chief Ahmed Hosni.
Dermer said the meeting went exceptionally well. “I’ve been to many meetings between Netanyahu and the king and this was one of their best meetings,” he said, according to Walla.
Palestinian clashes with Israeli police at the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on April 22, 2022. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)
It was Netanyahu’s first known visit to Amman since a secret trip in 2018 amid the Trump administration’s attempt to negotiate a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
The visit, so close to the diplomatic strife, appears to suggest that both sides are keen to avoid the public infighting that has marked Israeli-Jordanian relations during Netanyahu’s last term.
During Netanyahu’s final tenure as prime minister from 2009 to 2021, relations between Jerusalem and Amman deteriorated significantly, with Abdullah saying in 2019 that ties were “at an all-time low” following a series of incidents that prompted Jordan to recall its ambassador to Israel. be.
The neighbors, who fought each other in major wars but also maintained covert contacts, signed a peace treaty in 1994.
Observers have fully expected a deterioration in Israeli-Jordanian relations after thawing frosty relations during Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid’s government.
Any significant deterioration would complicate Netanyahu’s relationship with US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has prioritized its ties with Jordan, would complicate the expansion of the Abraham Accords, and could be a source of real unrest in Jerusalem.
FILE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, left, at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan on January 16, 2014. (AP/Yousef Allan, Jordanian Royal Palace)
Jordan was already nervous about changes to the Temple Mount during Netanyahu’s previous tenure. His secret visit to Saudi Arabia in 2020 raised concerns in Amman that warming relations between Jerusalem and Riyadh could see Israel shifting the leading Muslim role at the compound from the Jordanians to the Saudis, possibly with the support of the USA.
A year earlier, in 2019, Abdullah said he was under pressure to change his country’s historical role on the Temple Mount, but stated that he would not change his position.
Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy has played a unique role at the holy site since 1924 – which, although not Israel, it calls a “guardianship.”
Israel captured the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, almost two decades after Amman captured it during the 1948 War of Independence. However, Israel allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to retain religious authority on the mountain.
Netanyahu’s predecessor Lapid met Abdullah in Jordan and at the United Nations. Bennett also met with the Jordanian king in Amman.