Amman : Jordan Sunday expressed opposition to the Israeli military’s measures that prevent Muslims from entering Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, media reported.
The Israeli occupation army set up several checkpoints on roads leading to East Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Mosque over the past week and deployed a large number of personnel to hamper the entry of worshippers to the mosque compound, Xinhua reported citing the state-run Petra news agency as quoting Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Hayel Daoud as saying.
Jordan oversees the holy Muslim and Christian sites in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinian envisage as the capital of their future state.
“These measures by the Israeli occupation forces need to immediately stop. The entire world should take measures against Israel to prevent the reoccurrence of such violations,” Daoud said.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. In 1980, it unilaterally annexed the area and claimed Jerusalem as the unified capital of the Jewish state, in a move never recognised by the international community.
In 1994, Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty that normalised relations between the two countries and allowed them to exchange ambassadors.
Ties between them recently soured after an Israeli lawmaker proposed a legislation that would revoke Jordanian oversight of Islamic and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem, including Al Aqsa Mosque, under the treaty.