Jordan warns Israel against provocation in Jerusalem
Amman |Monday, 2009 6:05:12 AM IST
 

Jordan Sunday warned Israeli police and religious radicals that further provocation in the compound that houses the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem would fuel violence in the region and jeopardise peace efforts.

Clashes between Israeli police and youths armed with rocks broke out Sunday at the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount compound where the mosque is located. The confrontation was apparently sparked by calls by radical Jewish clerics to their followers to go up to the compound, and by calls by radical Muslim clerics for their followers to defend the site.

"Any new provocative attempts by Israeli troops and Jewish extremists such as what happened today in the shrine's compound represents a flagrant violation of international law and conventions and sets the stage for more tension and acts of violence," Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif said in a statement.

"Jordan, out of its historical responsibilities in being the custodian of the holy places in Jerusalem, is extremely worried about what is taking place and warns against going ahead with this provocative behaviour on the part of Israeli troops," he added.

Sharif urged "an immediate end to such dangerous practices which threaten to derail all opportunities of peace and stability in the region".

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war. Under the peace treaty which the two countries concluded in 1994, Israel acknowledged Amman's right to look after all Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.

Relations between Jordan and Israel have soured over the past four weeks, with the Jordanian government summoning the Israeli ambassador in Amman twice to lodge a strongly-worded protest.

The Jordanian foreign ministry also summoned the envoys of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to ask that they intervene immediately to ensure a halt to unilateral steps by Israel in East Jerusalem, including excavations and measures to force Arab citizens to emigrate.

--DPA

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( 327 Words)

2009-10-26-02:02:11 (IANS)

 

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