US welcomes ‘positive step’ to ease Temple Mount access

Praise comes after 40,000 Muslims disperse peacefully after Friday prayers: State Department stresses no current plans to revive peace talks

Police guard as Palestinian Muslim worshippers make their way to the Al Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer in Jerusalem's Old City, November 14, 2014. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Police guard as Palestinian Muslim worshippers make their way to the Al Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayer in Jerusalem's Old City, November 14, 2014. (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The United States on Friday welcomed Israel’s easing of access restrictions to the Temple Mount as “a positive step” after US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks on the tensions with Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders in Amman.

Israel allowed unrestricted access to the Temple Mount for Palestinian male and female worshipers of all ages on Friday, and 40,000 gathered and dispersed without incident, although there were demonstrations and protests outside Jerusalem, at Jerusalem-West Bank flash-points, and in several Israeli Arab towns. In previous weeks, Israel had limited access to the mount on Fridays to Muslim men under either 35 or 50, while not restricting Muslim women’s access.

“This is an important development, one we certainly welcome,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

It was “a positive step for maintaining the status quo of the site,” she said, adding, however, that there are currently no plans to resume peace talks between the two sides.

Like Kerry, Psaki stressed the United States had agreed that it would not lay out publicly the steps agreed to by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ease Jerusalem-centered tensions and violence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman, November 13, 2014 (screen capture: Channel 2)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman, November 13, 2014 (screen capture: Channel 2)

Netanyahu reaffirmed to Kerry when the two and Jordan’s King Abdullah met in Amman late Thursday that he would uphold a commitment not to change the status quo of Temple Mount site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

Abbas, who met separately with the secretary, restated his pledge to “non-violence and made it clear that he will do everything possible to restore calm,” Psaki said.

She vowed the United States would remain engaged with the two sides, stressing “the situation is still very tense, we have our eyes open… actions by the parties going forward are the key to restoring and maintaining calm.”

While Psaki refused to divulge exactly what concrete steps each leader had agreed to take, she said Kerry’s separate talks had touched on “access to holy sites, security for holy sites, coordination among security forces.”

They also talked about “incitement and settlements.”

The proof of the two leaders’ seriousness would be in their actions over the coming days, Psaki added.

The move came after weeks of unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank, some of which has been focused on Israeli plans to step up building activity in the city’s eastern sector and by religious tensions at the Temple Mount. Palestinian leaders have used inflammatory language to warn against Israeli plans to change the status quo and allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount — something Israel has denied.

Six Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terrorist attacks in recent weeks.

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