Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to take a series of practical steps to de-escalate the crisis over the Temple Mount, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Kerry was speaking after his tripartite meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan King Abdullah II n Amman.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh announced that all sides were committed to ‘concrete steps’ after the meeting and a separate bilateral meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. ‘’There are concrete steps out there to be done. There is an agreement that we need to de-escalate. There is a commitment on the part of Israel that the status quo has to be maintained,’’ he said.
Kerry said that Abbas had committed to prevent incitement to violence and to try and change the atmosphere. ‘‘President Abbas and I this morning discussed constructive steps, real steps – not rhetoric, but real steps that people can take in order to de-escalate the situation. President Abbas made it clear that he will do everything possible to restore calm and to prevent the incitement of violence and to try to change the climate,’’ he said.
‘’The proof will not be in the words but in the actions’, he added.
The trilateral meeting focused on lowering the tensions in Jerusalem.
While the steps agreed at the meeting were not formally announced, Israel announced that it had removed the age limit for Muslim male worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque for Friday’s prayers. The temporary restrictions were introduced to prevent rioting by larger groups of young men.
Israeli police also removed some concrete barriers in North Jerusalem in the predominantly-Arab neighbourhood of Issawiyeh.
At the Amman meeting, Netanyahu repeated Israel’s commitment to the status quo arrangement on the Temple Mount, which is under the administration of a ‘wakf’, an Islamic Trust, under the Jordanian Crown, and which bans Jewish worship at the sight.
Israel Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that the security situation is improving, but warned that more terrorist attacks remained likely. He told Israel’s Channel 1 news that he planned to ban extremists from all sides from the Temple Mount compound.
‘‘Those who want to heat things up on the Temple Mount, from Right or Left, be it the Islamic Movement, Fatah or Israeli right-wingers, including Members of the Knesset’ stand to be banned,’’ he said.