King Abdullah: Every Muslim has duty to protect Jerusalem holy sites

Muslims have a duty to protect the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, Jordan’s King Abdullah told a Palestinian delegation who visited him in Amman on Sunday.

“We will always be with you and you will overcome all the challenges before you,” King Abdullah told the delegation led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“King Abdullah stressed that it is the duty of every Muslim to deter Israeli escalations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem,” the Royal Court said in a statement it put out after the meeting.

He issued his statement during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan and in advance of the Passover and Easter holidays, in a period fear is high that the sensitive holiday seasons will lead to an outbreak of violence.

He reaffirmed the Hashemite Kingdom’s special custodial relationship to Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem including the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, also known to Muslims as al-Haram, al-Sharif.

Abdullah calls for opposition to extremist Israeli statements

King Abdullah also called on the “international community to take a stand against the exclusionary and racist statements made recently by some Israeli officials.”

It’s important, he said, “the displacement of Christians, as well as the repeated attacks on churches, religious figures, and Christian property in Jerusalem.”

King Abdullah also affirmed his commitment to an independent Palestinian state explaining that steps to improve the economic and humanitarian conditions in the West Bank should not in any counter the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Abbas told him the Palestinians would "continue their resistance of the occupation, in pursuit of their legitimate rights,” according to the Royal Court.