In meetings with the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers, a seemingly increasingly sidelined Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that for the ceasefire between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Israel to hold, Jews must be barred from visiting the Temple Mount.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Abbas emphasized the importance of including the PA in any plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the recent round of fighting between Israel and Hamas, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The PA leader reportedly told Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, both of whom visited Ramallah, that he was ready to work with the US administration and other members of the Quartet – Russia, United Nations, and European Union. He also claimed that he was ready to restart the peace process based on existing international resolutions.
On Tuesday, Abbas told Safadi that for the truce between Hamas and Israel that ended the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls to hold, the period of calm must include "stopping attacks and incursions by extremist settlers, backed by the Israeli occupation forces, on al-Aqsa Mosque and on our people in the West Bank," the Jerusalem Post revealed.
Palestinian and Palestinian-aligned media outlets frequently refer to images of Jewish visitors walking atop the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – as "storming the al-Aqsa compound." Jews are forbidden to pray openly on the Mount and guards accompany all Jewish groups who enter the Maghrebi gate, the only one through which non-Muslims are permitted to enter.
Abbas made his comments in the shadow of the lifting of the recent ban on Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, which were suspended for 19 days after a sharp increase in tensions over the violent Sheikh Jarrah property dispute and canceled Palestinian legislative and presidential elections.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
