Jordan Calls Emergency Regional Meeting Over Tensions in Jerusalem
by i24 News and Algemeiner Staff
i24 News – Jordan, which administers the Al-Aqsa Mosque, will hold an emergency meeting of a regional committee with the “illegal Israeli policies and measures” in Jerusalem on the agenda.
The committee meeting includes member countries that have recently normalized relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority will also participate in the meeting.
WAFA reports that the purpose of the meeting will be to “discuss the recent Israeli escalation at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and ways to stop it and restore calm.”
On Wednesday, a senior Israeli diplomat accused Jordan of playing a “double game” with its responses to recent unrest in Jerusalem, haranguing Israel in public while speaking more reasonably behind closed doors.
“They tell us this is how they keep those who ask Jordan to cut ties with Israel at bay,” the diplomatic official said during a briefing with Israeli journalists.
More than half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent, and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel is highly unpopular, especially during times of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Jordan has taken some actions against Israel in recent days, albeit largely symbolic. Amman summoned the Israeli ambassador to rebuke him after police repeatedly entered the site of the hotspot Al-Aqsa Mosque in recent days to quell Palestinian rioters.