Jordan summons Israeli ambassador over Church of the Holy Sepulcher

AFP news agency is reporting on the most recent tension between Jordan and Israel. This time it is about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. According to the French agency, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Nevo Dani on Thursday to demand a halt to "unilateral" work carried out by Israel on the outer walls of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Excerpt:

"The ambassador was summoned today to the Foreign Ministry where he was handed an official letter of protest expressing deep concerns and rejection of unilateral measures in the outer western walls of the church," a senior official told Agence France-Presse.

The government demanded Israel "immediately halt such actions and restore the status quo", according to the letter.

"Israel's measures are illegal and violate international laws because Israel is the occupying force in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," the official said.

Another official said the Israeli authorities "have removed iron bars around a gate in the walls that has been sealed since the British mandate of Palestine [which ended in 1948] and opened the gate".

The official, who declined to be named, said that the Israelis "claimed that they were doing renovations but nobody asked them to do anything".

"This is unprecedented and dangerous," the official said, noting that anything to do with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is "very sensitive".

In Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which looks after the holy places on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church and liaises with other Christian denominations, also protested against what it said was a unilateral Israeli action.