Israel, Jordan Expected to Meet Over Temple Mount Tensions
i24 News – Israeli and Jordanian officials are expected to meet soon to discuss efforts to prevent an outbreak of violence on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israel’s Walla! news site reported Wednesday.
Israeli media, citing three unnamed sources, said a joint committee will meet after Ramadan to reach an agreement on how to ease tensions at the holy site and prevent any violent incidents.
According to Walla!, one of Amman’s main demands is that Israel allow more unarmed guards from the Waqf, the Jordanian-controlled religious council that administers the Islamic sites on the Temple Mount.
In the morning, Channel 12 revealed that Jordan has submitted to the United States a review of the “historic status quo,” calling for the transfer of control of the Temple Mount, concerning security and visits by non-Muslims, to the Waqf.
After deadly attacks in Israel, including two perpetrated by Palestinians, then operations by the Israeli army in the West Bank, several violent incidents broke out in mid-April at the holy site in Jerusalem.
Israeli police intervened after rioters threw rocks from the esplanade toward the Western Wall below as Jews celebrated Passover.
The deployment of the police was “justified” because it made it possible “to avoid a disaster,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday.
The clashes raise fears of a new escalation of violence, a year after an 11-day war between the Jewish state and Hamas, the terrorist movement in power in Gaza.