The meeting follows growing tensions over visits and religious rituals by Jewish extremists at the compound, which includes al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
Jordan says the actions violate a longstanding status quo under which Muslims are permitted to worship at the site, while Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy retains custodianship of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites.
On July 23, more than 2,000 Israelis, mostly settlers from the religious right and led by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, entered the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
They prayed and performed religious rituals across the site, in what Jordanian officials described as the worst violation of the status quo in modern history.
Amman is also alarmed by a recent recruitment drive for religious Jews into a special Temple Mount police unit and fears further challenges to Jordan’s custodianship during major Jewish holidays in September.
The holidays will coincide with an intense Israeli election campaign, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition will be fighting to retain power.
“This is a constant threat, a dangerous threat that we’re trying to counter in every tool that we have possible,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.
“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,” he said.
Safadi, who is hosting Wednesday’s emergency meeting, said it will bring together foreign ministers from Arab League countries, as well as Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. “It’s something that the whole international community should be aware of. Jerusalem is a tinderbox,” he said.
“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,” Safadi added.
Jordan’s custodianship of the al-Aqsa compound dates back to the Ottoman era, while arrangements governing the city’s religious sites were later enshrined in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin.
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The Hashemite Kingdom’s oversight was expanded to include Christian holy sites in the 20th century. Its custodianship was reaffirmed after the 1967 war and in the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.
Previous challenges to the religious status quo have also sparked unrest and triggered riots during the British Mandate period, while a 2000 visit to the compound by then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon preceded more than four years of violence during the second intifada.
Jordan is also particularly vulnerable to the consequences of Israel’s broader policies in the occupied West Bank, where Amman fears tensions could escalate as the October elections approach.
There is growing concern in Jordan over what the Israeli government could do in the months before the vote, particularly as far-right elements push for changes to the region’s geography that could be difficult to reverse.
For Amman, the worst-case scenario is the mass displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan. The government fears such a development could destabilize the country through the economic costs of absorbing a large population, political tensions and pressure on its already delicate demographic balance.
“Our position is that this is a red line that we will not allow to be crossed. We have made that known to everybody that we will do whatever it takes to prevent any attempt at Israeli displacement of Palestinians into Jordan,” Safadi said.
He said such a move would violate international law and Palestinians’ right to remain on their land, while also representing “a tremendous escalation.”
Jordanians descend from previous waves of Palestinian refugees already account for more than half of the country’s estimated 11.5 million population.
Jordan’s original residents, known as East Bankers, have expressed concerns about further changes to the country’s demographic balance.
Tensions between Jordan and Israel have also extended to water-sharing arrangements. Israel has declined to renew a 2021 agreement under which it supplied Jordan with an additional 50 million cubic metres of water annually, on top of the 50 million cubic metres provided under the 1994 peace treaty.
The move has added pressure on Jordan, one of the world’s most water-scarce countries, whose population has grown significantly since the original agreement was signed.
The Israeli government reportedly reduced water supplies in response to criticism from Jordan over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, while Israeli officials have suggested that supplies could be increased if Amman moderated its criticism.
Israel’s actions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, coupled with tensions over water, are increasing the domestic political cost for Jordan’s monarchy of maintaining normal relations with its western neighbour.
“Anti-normalization sentiment here has grown even larger than before due to the Zionist state’s plans of annexation of the West Bank, the denial of Jordan’s share in the water agreement and also the daily challenges to the custodianship at al-Aqsa mosque,” said Dima Tahboub, a Jordanian parliamentarian and spokesperson for the Islamist Umma Party.
“Every day there is penetration by settlers into al-Aqsa mosque and at the same time, Jerusalemites are prevented from entering the mosque,” she added.
Tahboub’s party is Jordan’s largest political bloc. It was known as the Islamic Action Front until earlier this year, when it was ordered to adopt a less ideological name.
The party’s rise has largely been driven by developments in the Palestinian territories, while the Gaza war helped it secure more than 22 per cent of the available parliamentary seats.
The surge in support for political Islam has unsettled the monarchy and contributed to a slowdown in plans for political reforms and the transfer of greater powers to parliament.
Irish Times
