Jordan slams Israel for Western Wall prayer platform
Structure built for Women of the Wall activist group "is a blatant attack on the Muslim monuments and Waqf, Jordanian minister says.
By JPOST.COM STAFFJerusalem Western Wall, Dome of the Rock 521(photo credit: REUTERS)
Jordan has condemned Israel’s construction of a large platform at the Western Wall for egalitarian prayer.Israel built the platform following protests by Orthodox Jews against the Women of the Wall activist group that hold services at the main Western Wall Plaza.The platform lies just south of the plaza and is not close to any Islamic sites or places of prayer.Jordan’s Petra news agency on Monday quoted Jordanian State Minister for Media Affairs Muhammad Momani saying that the construction of the platform “is a blatant attack on the Muslim monuments and Wakf [Islamic trust] land which is an integral part of the Aksa Mosque.”The mosque is built on the southern end of the Temple Mount complex and the Western Wall is one of the exterior walls of this structure. The Western Wall Plaza and the new prayer platform are located many meters below the Temple Mount.Momani stressed Jordan’s position “to exert political, diplomatic and legal efforts to protect and care for Muslim and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem,” and warned of “Jewish settlers and extremists’ continued call to storm the Aksa Mosque under the pretext of Jewish holidays,” according to the report.
