Hsafadi stressed to Ashkenazi that “it is necessary for Israel to stop all measures that undermine the chances of achieving a just peace on the basis of a two-state solution.”
By LAHAV HARKOVIsrael's new Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Hsafadi at the Allenby border crossing on Thursday.The Jordanian Foreign Ministry tweeted that Hsafadi stressed to Ashkenazi that “it is necessary for Israel to stop all measures that undermine the chances of achieving a just peace on the basis of a two-state solution.”Hsafadi also called on Israel to “stop all provocative measures in the al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif and respect the existing legal and historical status.”The statement did not specify what Jordan was accusing Israel of doing on the Temple Mount; there have been no specific Israeli policy changes on the matter recently.However, Jordan has been concerned about losing its status as the custodian of the al-Aqsa Mosque to Saudi Arabia in the framework of a normalization agreement with Israel. The area is administered by the Wakf, the Jordanian Islamic Trust.Earlier this week, Jordan's representative at the UN General Assembly accused Israel of trying to "change the historic or legal status of the holy city, especially at the al-Aqsa mosque."The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that the meeting took place, but would not give further details.Relations between Israel and Jordan have chilled in recent years, and worsened when Israel weighed extending its sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria in the framework of the Trump peace plan. King Abdullah has refused to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent years or even to speak to him on the phone.
