ammonnews.net

Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordanian Information Minister and government spokesman Mohamed al-Momani announced Monday that his country's ambassador to Israel Walid Obeidat will be returning Tel Aviv today.

The Jordanian government has noted a "positive development" in Israel's stance vis-à-vis East Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the number of worshippers into the iconic house of worship has reached 65,000 on Fridays, al-Momani told the press on Monday.

Jordan's call for respecting the status quo in the holy mosque has reached the whole world, and Israel in particular, al-Momani said.

Last November, Amman recalled its ambassador to Israel to protest the latter's recent practices against Muslim worshippers in the Jordan-administered Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

The move came after a group of extremist Jewish settlers had forced their way into the mosque compound after Israeli forces clashed with Muslim worshippers.

Eyewitnesses said then that Israeli police had attacked worshippers and religious students outside the mosque complex, located in Jerusalem's Old City.

At the time, Jordan had said that Israeli practices in Jerusalem were undermining its 1994 peace treaty with the self-proclaimed Jewish state, which had reaffirmed Jordanian oversight of Jerusalem's holy sites.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part.