Palestinians, Jordanians challenge Israel at Al-Aqsa over banned prayer space
Tensions are mounting between Jordan and Israel after the latter arrested members of the Islamic Waqf Council for entering a supposedly banned prayer room at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is again causing a major rift in the once friendly relationship between Jordan and Israel. Relations turned sour in the past week when Israeli security officials conducted a humiliating arrest of Jordan’s most senior official in Jerusalem. Heavily armed Israeli security forces arrived at the East Jerusalem home of Sheikh Abdul Azim Salhab at 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 24. Salhab’s deputy and a score of other employees of the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf were also taken away, as were leading Palestinian activists.
The Israeli police said the arrests were made because Salhab, 75, and hundreds of Muslims broke an Israeli imposed ban forbidding Palestinians from entering or praying at the Bab al-Rahmeh prayer room in the mosque. They called the protest act a “change in the status quo.”
The prayer room on the eastern side of the UNESCO World Heritage Site was ordered closed in 2003. The newly appointed and expanded Islamic Waqf Council had made a symbolic protest move Feb. 14 by entering and praying at the site.
Israel responded by putting chains on the door — a move that resulted in daily protests and brought Muslim worshippers to pray outside the banned location. On Feb. 22, hundreds of Muslims led by the Waqf Council entered the site and held Friday prayer there, which infuriated the Israelis, especially the radical Jewish groups that have been trying to reclaim the mosque saying that the location used to contain a Jewish temple thousands of years ago.
