WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Islamic Waqf (Endowments) Department in Al-Quds has revealed that 2022 witnessed the highest number of violations and incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque with more than 48,000 Zionist settlers storming the Muslim holy site.
In a statement, the body said the violations included turning the mosque into a military barracks for Zionist troops and having extremist groups perform prayers, prostrations, chants, singing and dancing inside the mosque’s courtyards, as well as raising the occupying regime’s flags.
The statement warned that the settlers’ provocative behavior provoked Muslim worshippers and could trigger a war in the region.
The Waqf affirmed that Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic holy site that will not be divided.
The Islamic Endowments Department in Al-Quds is affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments which is responsible for managing the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Jordanian King Abdullah II says his country is prepared for conflict if its “red lines” over the sacred site in the Old City of Al-Quds are crossed.
He also expressed concern that a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising, might break out amid rising Israeli brutality in the occupied territories.
“We have to be concerned about a next intifada,” the Jordanian monarch said in an interview with CNN television news network.
“If that happens, that’s a complete breakdown of law and order and one that neither the Israelis nor Palestinians will benefit from,” he pointed out.
The Royal Hashemite Court pays the salaries of workers at the Muslim holy places.
“If people want to get into a conflict with us, we are quite prepared,” the Jordanian leader said when asked if he felt the new Zionist cabinet threatened the status quo in Al-Quds and the Hashemite custodianship.
“We have set red lines and if people want to push those red lines then we will deal with that,” he noted.
Intifada refers to uprisings against the Zionist regime, the first which took place between 1987 and 1993, where more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed.
The second intifada took place between 2000 and 2005, where the occupying regime killed at least 4,973 Palestinians. This was also the time when the whole world watched the cold-blooded killing of 12-year-old Palestinian Muhammad al-Durrah by the apartheid regime.
The Jordanian king warned about the region’s ability to keep a lid on any third outbreak.
“That’s a tinderbox that if it flashes, it’s something that I don’t think we’ll be able to walk away from in the near future,” he said.
Abdullah also pointed to an outpouring of support for Palestine among citizens of the Arab world during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as evidence that a resolution to the decades-long Zionist-Palestinian conflict was the only way for the regime to integrate fully into the region.
“Integration of Israel into the region is not going to happen unless there is a future for the Palestinians,” he said.