The two senior Waqf officials were arrested on Sunday in a follow-up to Friday’s riots on the Temple Mount in which thousands of Palestinians stormed the Golden Gate, which had been closed by a court order since 2003.
Jerusalem Police on Sunday arrested the east Jerusalem Wakf chairman Sheikh Abdel Azim Salhab, and Sheikh Najeh Bkeirat, deputy director of the Waqf.
The Jerusalem Waqf Islamic religious trust was instituted by Jordan after Israel’s War of Independence and is best known for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on and around the Temple Mount. The east Jerusalem Waqf is controlled by Jordan.
Jordanian Minister for Waqf Affairs Abdel Nasser Abu al Basal strongly condemned the arrests, calling them a “dangerous and serious escalation.”
The minister also warned that the arrests would harm Jordan’s role as custodian of the holy shrines in Jerusalem.
This is a developing story.
