In recent months, Jordanian leaders have issued various statements rejecting what they perceive as Israeli attempts to change the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem. Jordan takes the issue of Jerusalem very seriously and has repeatedly warned that changing the character of the city is a red line. “Sovereignty over Jerusalem is Palestinian and the custodianship over its holy sites is Hashemite,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said last year.
Last month during the inauguration of parliament, King Abdullah reiterated the Hashemite Kingdom’s firm commitment to defending Jerusalem: “The Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites is a duty, a commitment, a firm belief, and a responsibility we have proudly undertaken for more than a hundred years … we will not accept any attempts to alter its historical and legal status quo, nor attempts of temporal or spatial division of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif.”
