Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with King Abdullah of Jordan about his role in and responsibility for the oversight of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

King Abdullah raised his concerns over violence at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif site during the visit to Jordan in September by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron). We regularly discuss measures to de-escalate tensions and maintain the status quo with all levels of the Jordanian government.

On 29 October the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), met a delegation of Arab Heads of Mission, led by the Jordanian Ambassador, to discuss the violence at the Holy Sites and the implementation of the recent Israel-Jordan agreement. He assured the Ambassador and delegation that we will do all we can to support efforts to de-escalate tensions and maintain the status quo, which includes encouraging all sides to respect the King of Jordan’s custodianship.