AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdallah on Tuesday rejected Israel’s “unilateral measures” in East Jerusalem and vowed to go ahead with steps to preserve the Arab identity of the holy city, which the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

King Abdallah made the remarks as he presided over a meeting grouping senior officials and representatives of Arab families in Jerusalem to follow up on projects being implemented by Jordan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a royal court statement said.

“The monarch expressed Jordan’s rejection of any Israeli unilateral measure that seeks to change the historical status of the holy city and the (Arab) identity of the holy places by emptying the city of its Muslim and Christian inhabitants,” the statement added.

King Abdallah alluded to the insistence of the right-wing Israeli government to push ahead with settlement activity in East Jerusalem, which is considered by the United Nations as occupied territory, the demolition of Palestinian houses allegedly built without licenses and forcing more Palestinians to leave their homes.

The Jordanian government has repeatedly accused Israel of violating international law by conducting excavations underneath and around Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he had rejected US pressures on Israel to freeze settlements in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territories. “They (Americans) asked us for complete freeze and we told them that we will not do this,” Netanyahu said.

Speakers at the meeting chaired by King Abdallah focused on Israeli policies that target the holy Islamic and Christian places and the inhabitants of Jerusalem as part of a scheme to “judaize” the holy city, the royal court statement said.

Former Prime Minister Taher Masri urged a “larger Arab role to confront Jewish schemes and boost the morale of Jerusalem’s Arab inhabitants.”

Under a peace treaty Jordan concluded with Israel in 1994, the Jewish state acknowledged Amman’s right to look after Islamic and Christian holy places in the holy city.

Jordanian activity in East Jerusalem after its occupation in 1967 was confined to reconstruction and repair work at Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic places of worship. An office representing the Jordanian Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments supervises the day-to-day running of the holy places.