Meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Rejects Change Of Historical Status And Haram Al Sharif

Illustration of the Al Aqsa Mosque Complex in Jerusalem. (Wikimedia Commons/Jfragments)

JAKARTA - King Abdullah II told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan is working with regional and international partners to tackle violence in East Jerusalem.

The meeting of King Abdullah and President Abbas took place in Amman on Wednesday evening, Jordan's state news agency reported, days after Israel halted attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

The violence at the mosque threatens to spark another war, less than a year after similar tensions sparked an 11-day conflict between the militant group Hamas, Gaza's Iran-backed rulers, and Israel.

"His Majesty made it clear Jordan is intensifying its cooperation with all regional and international partners, to stop the escalation," the news agency said.

It said King Abdullah "renewed his rejection of any attempt to change the historical and legal status" of the Haram Al Sharif, which includes the Al Aqsa Mosque.

It is a contested hill on which Al Aqsa, one of the holiest sites in Islam, was built under Umayyad rule in the eighth century. Jordan has a mosque guardianship under a century-old arrangement.

In addition, the kingdom strongly supports Abbas' Palestinian Authority and Israel's formal peace.

Last year, an 11-day war in May erupted between Israel and the Hamas group, which touted what it called the need to defend Palestinian rights by force.

Meanwhile, dozens of people, mostly Palestinians, were injured this month when Israeli forces and Jewish extremists entered the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.

The violence follows attacks by Palestinian extremists that have killed 14 people in Israel since March. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in the West Bank killed more than 20 Palestinians in the same period.