Funding for 70 West Bank sites and Amman's al-Aqsa alarm
Israel allocated 113 million shekels for more than 70 historical sites in the occupied West Bank, while Jordan convenes an emergency ministerial meeting in Amman over a threat to al-Aqsa.
Geopolitics··Midday
Steering committee and Knesset approvals
According to Al Jazeera's Tuesday report, a government steering committee approved 113 million shekels, about 37 million dollars, for more than 70 historical sites in the occupied West Bank. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the decision a Zionist act of the highest order. The approval sits on top of a 250 million shekel plan, about 83 million dollars, adopted in May. The same report says the Knesset Finance Committee separately approved close to 300 million shekels: 157 million shekels go directly to the Settlements Ministry and 142 million shekels as commitment authorisations. Sites include Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem. Al Jazeera notes Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law. The path for historical sites in the occupied West Bank thus joins the steering committee's 113 million shekel decision with the Knesset Finance Committee's near-300 million shekel package, showing the new layer on the May plan and the direct ministry sum.[1]
Emergency ministerial meeting in Amman
According to The Irish Times on 4 August, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi is convening an emergency ministerial meeting in Amman on Wednesday over what he describes as a threat to the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Arab League foreign ministers are attending alongside Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. Jordanian officials said that on 23 July more than 2,000 Israelis from the religious right, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, entered the al-Aqsa compound and performed prayers and religious rituals. They called this the worst modern breach of the arrangement that permits only Muslim prayer at the site. Safadi said it was a constant and dangerous threat Jordan was trying to counter with every tool available. The Hashemite monarchy's custodianship of Jerusalem's holy sites was reaffirmed in the 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty. The Irish Times report carries no Israeli government response. The Amman table gathers the 23 July entry claim, Ben Gvir's presence and the 1994 custodianship basis, with Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan beyond the Arab League.[2]
Occupied sites and the regional response
Read together, the two reports place new financing for historical sites in the occupied West Bank and tension over Jerusalem's holy sites on the same regional alarm line. Al Jazeera's account of the 113 million shekel approval and the May plan of 250 million shekels describes a transfer across more than 70 sites; the Knesset Finance Committee's lines of 157 million shekels and 142 million shekels strengthen the Settlements Ministry channel. The Irish Times account of the Amman meeting shows diplomatic mobilisation on the claim that more than 2,000 people entered the al-Aqsa compound on 23 July, with Ben Gvir among them. On one side stands the West Bank outlay fixed by Smotrich's description of a Zionist act of the highest order; on the other stands the al-Aqsa file Safadi calls a constant threat. Both gather around occupation, settlement and the holy-site arrangement: one through budgets and site lists, the other through a ministerial table and the 1994 custodianship basis. The reports carry no Israeli government reply to the Amman claims, while West Bank financing shows government and Knesset channels. A fresh outlay for more than 70 West Bank sites is approved as Amman convenes an emergency regional meeting for al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock.[1], [2]
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