06 February 2007
Jordan’s king Abdullah II has warned Israel against digging near the Al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. “Any attempts to change the nature of such holy sites and remove its Islamic characteristics are condemned,” Abdullah II told Israeli Arab lawmakers, according to Monday’s "Jordan Times". Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated on Monday at the Old City mosque to protest against the digging, which Israeli archaeological officials say was uncovering a main road of ancient Jerusalem and was not taking place near the holy site. The Jordanian Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs called Israel’s actions “a flagrant aggression on an Islamic shrine and Jordan’s sovereignty over it, a violation of the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty and a challenge for the UN resolutions.” Khaled Mashaal, exiled leader of the radical Hamas movement, said the digging was aimed at making it easier for Israeli troops to attack the mosque, and warned of a repeat of violence when an existing Old City tunnel was expanded in 1996. Arab leaders often incite their followers by warning of imaginary Israeli plots to destabilize the mosque, including in 1996, when bloody confrontations fanned by the Palestinian Authority left 70 people dead, although the tunnel in question did not go under the Muslim shrine.
