Jordan warns against Temple Mount rally

March 25, 2005

Jordan on Friday warned that a planned rally by Jewish extremists at a Jerusalem holy site claimed by both Muslims and Jews would lead to an escalation of violence and called on Israel to protect the compound.

Last week, extremists discussed sending thousands of Jews to the Temple Mount and Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, in order to draw the army and police away from evicting settlers from Gaza and the northern West Bank.

Israeli police said Wednesday they would block the rally but campaign organizer David Haivri said unofficial negotiations with police were still in progress.

Jordanian Religious Affairs Minister Ahmad Helayel said the rally "will definitely lead to the escalation of the spiral of violence and chaos."

"We urge the international community and the peace-loving camps to interfere to pressure and oblige Israel to provide the required protection to Al-Aqsa mosque from the extremists' aggressions," Helayel said in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency.

The area is at the heart of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Jews revere it as the site of the biblical temples, while it is Islam's third-holiest site and home to the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.

SOURCE: Jerusalem Post