Israel wants role in Jerusalem mosque renovation


15-04-2015 03:53 PM

Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Israeli regime construction minister Uri Ariel has intervened after Tel Aviv expressed consternation on the replacement of worn carpet in the Dome of the Rock mosque in Al Haram Al Sharif of occupied East Jerusalem by the Jordanian Islamic Waqf, Gulf News published.

The carpet in the Dome of the Rock has not been changed in over ten years and has become worn under the traffic of the increasing numbers of worshippers and visitors to the site.

The Jordanian government which is the official custodian of the entire Al Haram Al Sharif site, donated a carpet to replace the current one in the Dome of the Rock mosque.

Once the old carpet was removed, it was discovered that small parts of the building’s tiles also needed renovation. The installation of the carpet is in progress, but is not expected to be completed for some time.

In a bid to freeze carpet replacement work, the regime’s construction minister Uri Ariel has sent an official letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging the latter order Israeli police to intervene and suspend the work.

“The issue is not clear and Al Waqf is currently using mechanical machines inside the site,” Ariel wrote in his letter to Netanyahu, as reported by the Israel Hayom daily.

“This is an unprecedented renovation and Israel should examine the entire process and dispatch a technical committee to supervise the work in the Temple Mount (Haram Al Sharif) site. The work is extremely serious especially with the use of heavy machines on the site,” he added.

Fakhri Abu Diab, a member of the higher committee in defence of Jerusalem said Ariel’s letter was simply an attempt to claim and prove Israeli claims over Al Haram Al Sharif. “If Israel really sends in a committee to supervise the installation of the mosque carpet in the Dome of the Rock, this will automatically mean the Jordanian government does not have any kind of control or sovereignty over Al Haram,” he told Gulf News.

“Through the intervention, the Israeli colonists would send a protest message that Muslims do not enjoy control over Al Haram Al Sharif.”

He stressed that carpet replacement in the various mosques of Al Haram Al Sharif do not take place annually, but that the carpets are replaced when needed, usually every other decade. “Neither the Israeli ruins and antiques department nor any other Israeli department has any role to play in carpet replacement in a mosque in Al Haram Al Sharif,” he stressed.

Abu Diab said that the Israeli government would have been fully aware of the carpet replacement in the Dome of the Rock mosque as the Jordanian government must have coordinated the importation into occupied East Jerusalem of hundreds of meters of carpet needed for the work. “As far as we are aware, the Jordanian government has also informed Unesco about its plans to replace the carpet in the Dome of the Rock mosque,” he said.

At present, only offering individual prayers is possible inside the Dome of the Rock mosque. On Fridays, the site and the surrounding area is being used as a praying area for women.




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