Jordan’s King Abdullah, in a phone call on Monday with U.S. President Joe Biden, warned of what he called “hostile acts” by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and “unilateral measures” that threaten the status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites.
King Abdullah’s Hashemite dynasty is custodian of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no change in policy regarding a Jerusalem site also sacred to Muslims, after a far-right cabinet minister said Jews could pray there.
The compound, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, houses Islam’s third-holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa mosque, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a vestige of two ancient temples.
Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit but refrain from prayer. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and suggestions that Israel would alter rules about religious observance there have led to violence in the past.
“His Majesty warned of extremist settler violence against Palestinians, as well as unilateral Israeli measures that undermine the prospects of peace and target the historical and legal status quo of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, which may fuel violence in the region,” the Jordanian royal court said in a statement.
King Abdullah also discussed with Biden the need for de-escalation in the region and “establishing comprehensive calm to prevent a regional war”, the royal court added.