Jordan warned yesterday that it might review a 1994 peace treaty with Israel after Israeli MPs began a debate on allowing Jewish prayers at Jerusalem’s sensitive Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
“If Israel wants to violate the peace treaty in this issue, the entire treaty, its articles, details and wording will be put on the table,” Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur told Qatar’s Al-Watan newspaper in an interview.
Under the peace treaty, Jordan is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
Nsur’s remarks, quoted by state-run Petra news agency, came as Jordan’s parliament passed a motion urging the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to the kingdom, Daniel Nevo.
“Such Israeli attempts would lead to the destruction of the peace treaty as the international community is pushing for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” government spokesman Mohamed Momnai told Petra.
“The Jordanian custodianship is not a privilege granted by Israel. It is the Hashemites’ historic responsibility that is emphasised in the peace treaty.”
Last year, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed an agreement to confirm a verbal deal dating back to 1924 that gave the kingdom custodianship over Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites.
The Jordanian parliament’s vote followed a motion the previous day signed by 47 MPs demanding that the peace treaty with Israel be scrapped.
“All deputies who attended a meeting today to discuss Israel’s debate on sovereignty over Al-Aqsa voted to kick out the Israeli envoy and recall the Jordanian ambassador in Israel (Walid Obeidat),” prominent lower house deputy Khalil Attieh said.
The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment on the Jordanian parliament’s vote.
The Knesset on Tuesday evening began a debate called by rightwingers to demand that Israel end its practice of forbidding Jewish prayer at the Al-Aqsa compound.
In a motion which was not put to a vote, MP Moshe Feiglin, a hardline member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said Israel’s fear of igniting Muslim rage amounted to discrimination against Jews.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation yesterday condemned the Israeli move as a “dangerous escalation”.
Meanwhile, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani described the move as “a dangerous and unprecedented step that comes as part of Israel’s racist policy ... aiming to Judaise Jerusalem.”
Urging world action against Israel, Madani warned that “this dangerous escalation provokes the feelings of the whole Muslim nation”.
OIC chief Madani insisted that Al-Aqsa is a “red line”, warning that “such acts not only threaten the peace process but security and stability in the whole region.”
