Almost a decade of the tumultuous relationship between Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu finally boiled over last week when Amman scuttled what was to be a historic visit by the Israeli premier to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On March 10, Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein had to cancel a pre-arranged trip at the last minute to East Jerusalem’s Al-Haram Al-Sharif (what Israel calls the Temple Mount) when Israel, according to Jordan, violated the visit’s protocols. Israel had claimed that the cancellation of the trip was the result of disagreements over security arrangements to protect the Jordanian royal, which Jordan had denied. 

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi told the media on March 11 that Israel “tried to impose complications to hinder Jerusalemites’ entry to the mosque,” adding, “We agreed with Israel on arrangements of the visit, and we were surprised at the last moment that Israel wanted to impose new arrangements and change the itinerary.” 

The prince wanted to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque to mark a Muslim holy celebration. He was also supposed to visit Christian churches in the Holy City. For Jordan, that would have been a historic visit too: the first by a Jordanian royal since Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994. Al-Monitor has learned that Abdullah, who apparently has had enough of Netanyahu’s attempts to challenge the king’s role over Muslim holy places in Al-Haram Al-Sharif and provoke the Jordanians, was so angry that he ordered the government not to grant Netanyahu permission to come to Amman and board a UAE private jet that was sent to him to take him to Abu Dhabi on March 11. When the approval had finally come, hours later, Netanyahu’s plan for a short visit to Abu Dhabi, where he was supposed to meet Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed, had been ruined.