Thursday, June 01, 2017

Jordan's Piece of Paper and What to Do with It

Jordan's official Petra News agency reports:


The Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs handed the Israeli Embassy in Amman a memo to protest allowing Jewish extremists into the Al Aqsa Mosque/Haram Al Sharif under the protection of the Israeli police.  The Jordanian government asked the Israeli government in the memo to immediately put an end to such acts of aggression and provocation and respect the Jordanian role in caring for Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem 


Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel recognizes Jordan’s role as custodian of Muslim and Christian shrines in the city, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.  The ministry said that such acts inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world, violate Article 9 of the peace treaty between Jordan and Israel and are not in line with Israeli’s legal obligations, as the occupying power, in accordance with international law.


The memo said that such actions harm relations between the two countries and undermine efforts to reduce tension and preserve the status quo in the Al Aqsa Mosque/ Haram Al Sharif.

Article 9?

"Custodian"?

The text:

PLACES OF HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
Each party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

I hope the Embassy staff told the messenger just what to do with that piece of paper the memo was written on.





1 comment:

NormanF said...

Art. 9 of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty says nothing about banning Jews from praying on the Temple Mount!

In fact, it stipulates the exact opposite. Both Israel and Jordan have twisted its guarantee of freedom of religious worship into unsupported dicta banning Jewish prayer.

This is new in the history of law - and international relations.

Now Jordan wants to invoke it to ban Jews from even visiting the place altogether.

Which by the way, used to be its policy between 1948-1967.

In one respect, the Six Day War changed nothing.