Jordanian efforts bear fruit

Amman has been the scene of an intensive flurry of diplomatic activity over the past few days with His Majesty King Abdullah receiving visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday to discuss ending the recent wave of violence in the West Bank, in general, and Jerusalem in particular.

The choice of Amman was no coincidence but purposeful due to the Kingdom’s central role in preserving and protecting Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites, a role that the Hashemite family has been carrying out since the 1920s.

Kerry arrived in the capital, where he also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a view to obtain ironclad assurances from Israel about means to reverse the cycle of violence at Al Haram Al Sharif/Al Aqsa Mosque.

Kerry announced that Netanyahu was committed to maintaining the unchanged status quo holy sites in Jerusalem, adding that Israel agreed to provide 24-hour video surveillance of all sites on Al Haram Al Sharif.

This can be viewed as a very positive development and a great achievement for Jordanian diplomacy, provided Israel honours its commitments to the fullest.

Jordan as well as the international community will be monitoring the situation in the occupied city of Jerusalem closely to ensure that the current cycle of bloodshed ends, hoping that Israel would agree at some point in the future to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people through peace talks.

Israel’s agreeing to installing a monitoring system and the choice of Amman as the venue to announce the decision demonstrates Jordan’s weight at the regional and international levels, particularly with regards to its role in defending holy Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem.

Again, the fact that Israel agreed to install the cameras does not mean the end to the current problems as there has to be a probation period testing Israel’s will. The world community as a whole has to ensure that Israel respects international legitimacy, Jordan’s role in Jerusalem as stipulated in the peace treaty the two countries signed in 1994, and the rights of the Palestinian people living under its military rule.

Jordan will continue to defend the rights of the Palestinian people with all its might and to work to ensure that the status quo at Al Haram Al Sharif does not change. For Jordan, this means that the situation that prevailed before the start of bloodshed does not change, with only Muslims allowed to pray at the site.