Jordan rejects Israeli participation in Al-Aqsa Mosque maintenance

Amman - Al-Dustur - The Israeli occupation authorities keep working on Judaizing the holy city and controlling the Al-Aqsa Mosque tightly, using all means and methods, particularly unethical means violating international laws and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Those Israeli conspiracies against the holy mosque are not new. Rather, they have begun with occupying the holy city in 1967, when Israeli Army Minister Dayan led dig work under the mosque, which has not stopped up to this moment. The excavations have been obviously aiming to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to set up the alleged Temple in its place.

Those who follow up the UNESCO meetings would see that Israel insists on entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque through international organizations under the pretext of taking part in maintenance and reconstruction. This had been repeatedly rejected by Jordan, which has a custodial role over holy sites, as article nine of the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty stipulates a special Jordanian role in the Muslim holy shrines in occupied Jerusalem.

In this regard, and after the ruin of the Dung Gate bridge due to Israeli excavations, Israel presented a project to the UNESCO to set up a bridge instead of the old destroyed one. However, Jordan rejected this proposal and insisted that it represents the sole party entitled to supervise the mosque. Therefore, it presented a design for the aforementioned bridge, which the UNESCO considered the best and called on Israel to cooperate with the Jordanian side and to allow Jordanian technical teams to inspect the site and proceed with required technical procedures. On the other hand, the occupation authorities disregard this and insist on taking part. However, Jordan has rejected this and continues to reject it in order to hamper Israel's aims to take charge of the mosque and implement its malevolent plans through participation.

Source: Al-Dustur, Amman, in Arabic 17 Aug 08