Amman hosted an emergency ministerial meeting on Wednesday to rally support behind Jordan’s custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites, as Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that Israeli measures risk igniting a wider religious conflict.
Issued on: 05/08/2026 - 17:07
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Speaking at the meeting, Safadi said Israel was entrenching its illegal occupation of East Jerusalem by expanding settlements, annexing land, confiscating property and imposing restrictions designed to isolate the city from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory. He accused Israeli authorities of "violating the sanctity of Islamic and Christian holy places and curbing freedom of worship for both communities". Quoted by the Jordan Times, he said: “Christian clergy are suffering from the savagery of extremism, and churches are confronting attempts to seize their assets and lands through illegal legislation enacted by Israel." He added that such moves flouted international law, which denies an occupying power sovereignty over occupied land. He said Israel’s “provocative policies” were targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound through systematic attacks aimed at undermining its Islamic identity and altering the long‑standing status quo. Seventh round of talks between Lebanon and Israel under way in Rome
