Jordan has been the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem since 1924 under what is widely known as the “Hashemite Custodianship”.
Qatar and Jordan renewed their condemnation of the latest Israeli aggression on Palestinian worshippers at the Al Aqsa Mosque, during a meeting between top officials on Monday.
The discussions took place in Doha between Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh.
During his visit, Al Khasawneh delivered to Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani a written message from Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein regarding bilateral relations.
“The two sides expressed during the session their condemnation of the repeated Israeli aggression on Al Aqsa Mosque, and expressed their alarm that these provocations could lead to increased violence in the region,” read a statement by Qatar’s foreign ministry.
The statement noted that the diplomats “stressed the importance of not tampering with the historical and legal status of Al Aqsa mosque”.
“They also stressed the important role of the Jordanian custodianship over Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem,” the statement added.
Jordan has been the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem since 1924 under what is widely known as the “Hashemite Custodianship”.
The Hashemite Custodianship appeared to be among Jordan’s issues of concern in light of Israel’s increased violence at the Al Aqsa mosque.
The matter was also believed to be on the agenda in January, in a meeting between Qatar and Jordan’s leaders during the latter’s visit to the Gulf state.
Since last week, Israel has been violently attacking Palestinians at the Muslim holy site, preventing them from accessing the mosque during the month of Ramadan to make way for Jewish settlers marking their Passover holiday.
Jewish settlers, protected by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), stormed Al Aqsa mosque while carrying out provocative gestures in front of the Palestinian worshippers.
Qatar has repeatedly slammed Israel’s measures and held it “solely responsible for the violence taking place,” including Thursday’s attacks on Gaza.
According to Palestine’s news agency, the IOF and Israeli settlers have killed at least 93 Palestinian, including 17 minors, since the start of the year.
Qatar-Jordan ties
Bilateral trade and economic cooperation were on the agenda of the meeting between Sheikh Mohammed and Al Khasawneh.
“Qatari investments in Jordan are important, and we look forward to increasing and expanding them in many fields,” Sheikh Mohammed said, as quoted by Amman’s news agency.
Jordanian media reported on Monday that Amman recorded a trade surplus of around 385 million QAR (around $106 million) with Qatar in 2022.
The reported figure represents a major growth in the two countries’ trade.
In 2022, the bilateral trade reached around 765 million QAR (around $210) whereas it recorded more than 595 million QAR (around $164 million) in 2021.
Last year, reports also stated that Qatar sought to increase food imports from Jordan to meet the growing demand at the time of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
There are at least 60,000 Jordanians working in various sectors in Doha, whilst more than 1,100 joint Qatari-Jordanian companies operate from Qatar in the trade, contracting, construction, interior design, and maintenance sectors.
In 2020, Sheikh Tamim visited Jordan for the first time since 2014, where he offered to provide 10,000 jobs for Jordanians. He had also pledged $30 million in assistance to the Amman’s military pension fund.
