AMMAN, 25 February 2007 — A Jordanian team headed to Jerusalem yesterday for a firsthand evaluation of the Israeli excavations near Al-Aqsa Mosque that sparked a spate of protests across the Arab and Islamic worlds.
The team comprises deputy chairman of the committee in charge of the rehabilitation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Raef Najm, and Jordan’s ambassador to the UNESCO Dina Kaawar.
The panel’s mission, due to last until Tuesday, “mainly covers all Israeli excavations around Al-Aqsa Mosque, particularly the road leading to Al-Magharebah Gate” where Israel has been conducting construction work over the past month, said Najm, an architect.
Jordan’s King Abdallah has condemned the Israeli excavations as a “flagrant violation” of the peace treaty which the two countries concluded in 1994. Under the provisions of the pact, Israel recognized Jordan’s right as custodian of all Islamic and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state captured from the Hashemite Kingdom in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Palestinian and Jordanian religious leaders say the Israeli excavations had the aim of the eventual demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, and building the biblical Jewish temple in its place.
