UAE summons Israeli envoy over ‘attacks on civilians, incursions into holy places’

The United Arab Emirates summoned Israel’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi on Monday over the recent Jerusalem escalations in what was the first such ceremonial rebuke since the two countries normalized relations a year and a half ago.

During the meeting, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy informed Ambassador Amir Hayek of Abu Dhabi’s “strong protest and denunciation of the events taking place in Jerusalem and [in] Al-Aqsa Mosque, including attacks on civilians and incursions into holy places that resulted in the injury of a number of civilians,” according to the official Emirati WAM news agency.

Hashemy was apparently referring to the conduct of Israel Police officers, who have entered the Temple Mount compound several times in recent days in order to quash Palestinian rioters. On Friday, officers even entered Al-Aqsa mosque itself, where young Palestinians were stockpiling rocks and fireworks. During the clashes that ensued, some 400 people were arrested and more than 150 Palestinians were injured.

A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the summoning but declined to comment further.

Hashemy stressed the need for Israel to “immediately stop these events, provide full protection for worshipers, respect the right of Palestinians to practice their religious rights and halt any practices that violate the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque,” WAM reported, adding that the minister warned that escalations in Jerusalem threaten the stability of the entire region.

The Emirati minister also highlighted the importance of respecting Jordan’s custodial role at the Temple Mount. Employees of the Hashemite-funded Jerusalem Islamic Waqf are responsible for administering the site referred to by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.

Amir Hayek. (Smadar Cafri)

Hashemy also called for fostering an environment that will allow for a return to negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders aimed at reaching a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a series of phone calls with world leaders aimed at lowering tensions in Jerusalem. They included conversations with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Blinken also dispatched Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Yael Lempert and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr to travel to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt in the coming days for shuttle diplomacy meetings aimed at reducing tensions in Jerusalem, an official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel, confirming an Axios report.

During Blinken’s Monday call with Safadi, the two discussed “the importance of Israelis and Palestinians working to end the cycle of violence by refraining from actions and rhetoric that further escalate tensions,” according to the State Department readout.

Blinken stressed that the US backs Jordan’s custodial role on the Temple Mount.

“Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of upholding the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount,” the US readout added, referring to the policy that allows Muslims to visit and pray at the site while Jews may visit but cannot pray. The status quo has been increasingly strained in recent years, with authorities regularly standing by as Jews quietly pray during their heavily restricted visits to the site. Recent years have also seen a spike in the number of visitors to the site, many of them religious nationalists, despite the bar placed by some senior rabbis on such visits.

Israeli police officers during clashes outside the Al Aqsa Mosque, in Jerusalem’s Old City, on April 17, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel insists that it is safeguarding the status quo and protects freedom of religion for worshipers at the Temple Mount and in Jerusalem more broadly.

During his Tuesday call with Blinken, Lapid told the secretary of state that Israel will not tolerate statements that appear to support violence around Jerusalem, according to the Foreign Ministry readout.

Lapid told Blinken that Israel has been working to ensure freedom of religion for “the three Jerusalem religions,” the Foreign Ministry said, referring to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

He also emphasized Israel’s balanced and responsible efforts against the rioting by hundreds of Muslim extremists on the Temple Mount, and about gaps in information and false reports, distributed by extremists, stoking the flames and inciting violence instead of bringing calm,” the ministry said, without delving into specifics.

Palestinian rioters clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound atop the Temple Mount, on April 15, 2022. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Israel has accused Arab leaders of boosting tensions by pushing Muslim claims regarding the Temple Mount and claiming Israeli attempts to break a delicate status quo there. To many Palestinians though, the holy site is seen as one of the last places where they still have a degree of sovereignty.

An Israeli official told Army Radio that Blinken thanked Lapid for Israel’s efforts to de-escalate the situation.

In his own call with Blinken, Abbas blasted the “brutal attacks” by Israeli troops during the Temple Mount clashes along with the daily “storming of Al-Aqsa by settlers” and other violations to the status quo, according to the official PA news site Wafa.

Abbas stressed the importance of creating a “political horizon” for a resolution to the conflict and urged the “speedy” reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem, Wafa said. The Biden administration pledged to reopen the office that served as the de facto mission to the Palestinians until it was shuttered by former president Donald Trump in 2019. However, efforts to follow through on the campaign pledge have hit a stand-still.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on May 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, Pool)

Abbas lamented daily raids of Palestinian villages by the Israeli military, which he said “will lead to dire and unbearable consequences” if they continue, Wafa reported.

For his part, Blinken stressed that Israel has been informed of the need to maintain status quo at Al-Aqsa and allow access to Muslim worshipers.

According to the PA readout, Blinken also highlighted the US rejection of settler violence, home demolitions, evictions and Israeli army raids of Area A — something that hadn’t come up before in US talking points. Blinken also told Abbas he was urging Israel to take steps to improve the lives of Palestinians under its control.

Blinken indicated that he shares Abbas’ view regarding the need to create a political horizon, and until then, to hold talks aimed at improving Palestinian livelihood, Wafa reported.

The State Department did not immediately release readouts from Blinken’s calls with Abbas or Lapid.