Full story
Jordan’s Gaza-adjacent warning
Jordan warned that an “imminent” Israeli takeover of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock compound could ignite a wider religious conflict, as it convenes an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic nations on Wednesday.
“Jordan has issued a stark warning that an imminent Israeli takeover of one of Jerusalem's most significant Muslim sites”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told The Guardian, “We warn that tampering with the status quo … could trigger a religious conflict that will reverberate beyond Palestine and Jordan into the whole Muslim world.”
The warning comes as Jordan says the decades-old status quo is being threatened by actions such as revoked permits for Muslim staff, arrests of imams, and escalating incursions.
The Independent also links the risk to repeated incursions by Jewish religious extremists into the holy site, and says hardline Israeli ministers including Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have called for the site to be brought under Israeli state control with a synagogue built on its grounds.
The Independent says Jordan is also concerned about a potential mass deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank, warning that any attempt at Israeli displacement of Palestinians into Jordan would be a “red line” and a tremendous escalation.
Emergency talks and Safadi’s line
Jordan is preparing to convene an emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers on Wednesday to coordinate a response, with Safadi warning that Jordan is trying to explain the danger and create awareness of the “imminent danger” in the continuation of Israeli measures.
Safadi told The Guardian, “We’re trying to explain the danger. We’re protesting legally. We are trying to create awareness of the imminent danger in the continuation of those Israeli measures.”
Ynetnews says Safadi will host foreign ministers from Arab League states as well as Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, framing the meeting as a response to what Jordan describes as an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the Temple Mount.
Ynetnews adds that Jordanian officials were particularly alarmed by a July 23 visit involving more than 2,000 Israelis led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and says participants prayed and performed religious rituals across the compound in what Jordanian officials described as the most serious violation of the status quo in modern history.
Safadi also reiterated Jordan’s opposition to any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan, saying, “Our position is that this is a red line that we will not allow to be crossed.”
Status quo, elections, and risk
The Guardian says the emergency meeting and Jordan’s warning follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy.
“On 23 July, more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right”
On 23 July, The Guardian reports that more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right—mostly settlers led by Itamar Ben Gvir—stormed the area known to Jews as the Temple Mount, prayed and performed rituals, and Jordanian officials described it as the worst violation in modern history.
The Guardian says Amman is alarmed at a recent recruitment drive for religious Jews for a special Temple Mount police unit, and is braced for more direct challenges to traditional Jordanian custodianship by extremist Israeli leaders in the major Jewish holidays in September.
The Guardian also ties the timing to politics, saying this year’s holidays will come amid an intense election campaign in which the far-right coalition of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be fighting for survival.
For Amman, The Guardian says the worst-case scenario is an attempt at the mass deportation of Palestinians from the West Bank, and it quotes Safadi warning, “Not only will that be a violation of international law and of the right of the Palestinians to stay on their land, but that will also be a tremendous escalation.”