The King of Jordan is Preparing for a Conflict: Revisiting the Status of Jerusalem’s Custodianship of the Mosaic Holy Sites
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Should Jerusalem’s holy sites change, Jordan’s King says he is prepared for conflict, as Israel prepares to swear in a right-wing government.
King Abdullah II told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an exclusive interview this month that there is “concern” in his country about those in Israel trying to push for changes to his custodianship of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, warning that he has “red lines.”
“If people want to get into a conflict with us, we’re quite prepared,” he said. “I always like to believe that, let’s look at the glass half full, but we have certain red lines… We will deal with that if people try to push those red lines.
The nation’s relationship with Israel is heavily scrutinized at home, with many opposing further strengthening of ties due to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
This year was the worst for Palestinians in a long time and raised the spectre of a new Palestinian uprising against Israel.
The State of Israel wants to preserve freedom of religion and worship for all, and does not want to change the status of Jerusalem’s holy sites
Jordan’s monarchy has been the custodian of Jerusalem’s holy sites since 1924 and sees itself as the guarantor of the religious rights of Muslims and Christians in the city.
Tensions are highest over the compound known to Muslims as the Haram Al Sharif, which is called the Temple Mount by Jews. The site includes the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The holiest site in Judaism is the area. The politicians on the Israeli right think Jews have a right to pray there.
I don’t think those individuals are being investigated by a Jordanian microscope. The king said they are under an international microscope and that Ben Gvira’s views are under scrutiny. I think a lot of people in Israel are the same as we are.
He refused to say how Jordan would respond to changes in the status of the holy sites. He said that Israeli people had the right to pick whoever they wanted to lead them, as long as they could bring people together.
Jordan was the second country in the Arab world to establish normalized relations with Israel. Israel gained recognition from four more countries in 2020 in a major diplomatic victory.
Israel’s integration into the region is “extremely important” but it is “not going to happen unless there’s a future for the Palestinians,” the king said, pointing to the overwhelming support shown by Arab football fans for Palestinians at the Qatar FIFA World Cup.
The king has redoubled efforts to shed light on the status of Christians in the Middle East of late. He told the UN General Assembly in New York that Christianity was under fire in Jerusalem.
Lior Haiat, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign ministry, told CNN the heads of Churches have full access to every governmental authority, and that acts of violence on any community are condemned by the government.
“The State of Israel remains committed to safeguarding freedom of religion and worship for all, including the Christian community, in Jerusalem and other holy sites,” he said.
“This is not a national policy, but there are those that join governments that have very extremist views towards Muslims and Christians, as there are on the other side obviously, and we have to unify against that,” he said.
Bethany Beyond the Jordan: A Center for Middle East Christian Heritage and Peacemaking in the Jordan-Jerusalem War and its Implications for the World
Jordan has become a safe haven for Middle Eastern Christians for the better part of the past two decades as neighboring countries have been embroiled in conflicts that have pushed some of the oldest Christian communities in the world to flee their homelands.
In December, the monarch launched a master plan to develop Bethany Beyond the Jordan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Christians believe Jesus was baptized. The plan aims to build lodging, museums and amphitheatres catering to as many as 1.5 million tourists per year.
I think one of the biggest myths about this place is how inclusive it is. About 15% of the visitors are Muslim, he told CNN. “So this is an opportunity to break down those barriers and to show how proud we are of not only our historical Christian heritage here in Jordan, but the relationship between Christianity and Islam.”
The monarch said that the people in the Middle East wanted to move on with their lives. “So, as challenging as 2022 was, and as difficult as the dangers of 2023 are, there’s an opportunity for us to move beyond.”
I feel like politics are going to solve our problems. It’s economic dependency,” he said. “When I am invested in your success because your success is my success, at the end of the day means we can move forward.”
Ben Gvir, the Temple Mount, and the Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary: Israel’s National Security Minister Has Come to the Rescue
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday visited the Jerusalem compound known as the Temple Mount by Jews and the Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary by Muslims, in a move that drew condemnation from Palestinians and some Israelis.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it considers the storming of the AlAqsa Mosque a serious threat. We held Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for its consequences on the conflict.
Ben Gvir, the leader of the far-right Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, has previously been convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism. As national security minister, he oversees police in Israel as well as some police activity in the occupied West Bank.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, warned that Ben Gvir’s visit would be a “precursor for the ignition of the region” and it will be “pouring fuel over fire.”
“The Israeli government of which I am a member will not surrender to a vile murdering organization,” Ben Gvir responded in a tweet. If Hamas thinks that it will deter me from visiting the Temple Mount, they should know that times have changed. There is a government in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu’s visit was criticized by former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who called him weak for entrusting the most irresponsible man in the Middle East to the most dangerous place in the world.
In a tweet, Lapid called the visit a “provocation that will lead to violence that will endanger human life and cost human lives,” and said that it’s time for Netanyahu to tell Ben Gvir, “you don’t go up to the Temple Mount because people will die.”