Jordan says Israeli minister's tour of Jerusalem mosque provocative

Jun 24, 2009, 1:06 GMT

Amman - The Jordanian government on Tuesday condemned as 'provocative' a tour of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque earlier in the day by Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and a number of soldiers.

Minister of State for Information Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif urged an immediate cessation of such moves, which he said endangered the chances of peace.

'This is an unacceptable provocation that hurts sentiments of millions of Arabs and Muslims, and a flagrant encroachment on the sanctity of one of Islam's most sacred places,' he said.

'The Jordanian government has been following up with extreme concern this dangerous development and expresses its deep disappointment and categorical rejection of this unjustifiable step by the Israeli official.'

Sharif called on Israel 'to stop all unilateral acts which sought to obliterate the historical identity of the holy city and force its Palestinian inhabitants to emigrate.'

He said that Aharonovitch's tour of the Islamic shrine and other Israeli measures against Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem 'should be stopped immediately because they threaten to derail all chances of peace and efforts in this respect, which are led by the United States.'

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War. Jordan concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 under which the Jewish state acknowledged Amman's right to look after both Islamic and Christian shrines in the holy city.