JERUSALEM (JTA) — Jordan will return its ambassador to Israel three months after withdrawing the envoy over tensions on the Temple Mount.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani told Reuters that his country would return Walid Obeidat to Tel Aviv after noting that Israel had worked since November to ease tensions and lift restrictions on Muslim worshippers.
“We noticed in the last period a significant improvement in Haram al-Sharif with numbers of worshippers reaching unprecedented levels,” Momani told Reuters. Haram al-Sharif is also known as the Temple Mount and is the site of the Al-Aksa Mosque.
The Temple Mount site was closed to Muslim worshippers in the wake of an assassination attempt by a Palestinian terrorist on Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick.
The Jordanian Wakf is the Muslim religious administration charged with managing the Temple Mount site. Jews generally are not permitted by the Wakf to pray or bring any ritual objects to the Temple Mount when they visit.
