Jordan's King Vows to Stand Up to Israel on Jerusalem

Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed on Sunday to oppose any Israeli attempt to change the status of Muslim or Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

"Jordan will continue to confront, through all available means, Israeli unilateral policies and measures in Jerusalem and preserve its Muslim and Christian holy sites, until peace is restored to the land of peace," the king said in a speech.

Jordan, which administered east Jerusalem and the West Bank before Israel seized the Palestinian territories in the 1967 Middle East war, has responsibility for holy sites in the Israeli-annexed eastern sector.

Jordan's status as custodian is enshrined in its 1994 peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem's Old City has been a rallying point for Palestinian resistance to perceived Jewish attempts to take control of it, sparking clashes between demonstrators and Israeli police for the past several months.

The site is holy to Muslims and Jews alike.