Mohammad Ayesh
Middle East Eye / April 20, 2022
A memorandum calling on the Jordanian government to expel the Israeli ambassador from the kingdom was signed by 88 lawmakers on Monday, in protest at Israel’s violent crackdown on Palestinians in Jerusalem, according to Jordan’s Ammon News website.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abdul Karim al-Daghmi, said that the 130-member parliament has approved the memorandum and referred it to the government.
The memorandum was discussed and signed during a session attended by Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
Israeli forces on Wednesday raided Al-Aqsa Mosque for the fifth time this month, forcibly clearing Palestinian worshippers from the complex’s courtyards to make way for Jewish settlers to perform religious rituals marking the Jewish Passover.
“Stopping at denunciation and condemnation of what is happening in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque is no longer an option that conforms with the higher interest of the Jordanian state, nor with the aspirations and feelings of our Jordanian people,” the memorandum read. “It is certainly not consistent with the sacrifices of our people stationed at the gates of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The MPs called for stronger official measures against the Israeli occupation, adding that action must “not be limited to deterring” Israel; instead, they said, Amman should ensure that the kingdom does not lose its custodianship over the Jerusalem holy site.
Mohammad Ayesh is an Arab journalist currently based in London
