U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman on Thursday evening in an attempt to quell spiraling violence over the Temple Mount.
Palestinian Arabs mostly in Jerusalem and Israeli Arabs in other parts of the country have been rioting almost daily for weeks and carrying out terror attacks, allegedly because they fear that Israel plans to take over the Temple Mount—the site of the al-Aksa Mosque and the Golden Dome of the Rock shrine.
Kerry met earlier with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and said the leaders had come up with a way to end violence in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount.
“President Abbas strongly restated his firm commitment to non-violence, and he made it clear that he will do everything possible to restore calm and to prevent the incitement of violence and try to change the climate,” Kerry said in a press conference.
Israel has accused Abbas of fomenting the violence by repeatedly calling on Palestinians to defend the al-Aksa Mosque by all means. At least one Hamas leader (Hamas is Abbas’ partner in a Palestinian unity government) publicly called for Palestinians to attack Israelis by running them over with cars and stabbing them with kitchen knives.
That happened this week when Palestinian terrorists stabbed to death two Israelis in separate attacks. There have also been at least two attacks by Palestinians running over Israelis in their cars.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu strongly reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to uphold the status quo of al-Haram al-Sharif Temple Mount and to implement these steps,” Kerry said. “And King Abdullah also agreed to continue to take affirmative steps to restore calm and implement practical measures to prevent further escalations of tensions.”
The “status quo” refers to the state of affairs on the Temple Mount—known to Muslims in Arabic as the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Jordan maintains municipal control over the mosques on the Temple Mount, Israel maintains overall security control, and only Muslims are allowed to pray there.
According to Israel’s Supreme Court, everyone has free access to the Mount, where two Jewish Temples stood consecutively in Bible times, including freedom of worship. But currently only Muslims are allowed to pray there because police are concerned for public security.
Over the past year, more and more Israelis have been demanding freer access to the Temple Mount and the right to pray there. That has allegedly fueled the trouble among Arabs recently.
However, analysts have said for years that whenever Palestinians or the Arab world want to unite the Arab masses for whatever cause, they’ll start the rumor that al-Aksa (referring to the mosque and the entire compound) is in danger.
In an apparent response to the Thursday’s meeting, Israel announced it would allow access to the Temple Mount for Arab Muslims of all ages for Friday prayers.
Israel sometimes closes the compound to younger Palestinians when tensions are high to prevent rioting after Friday prayers.
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