The Central Bank of Jordan has unveiled a new 50 dinar banknote featuring an image of King Abdullah II with the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem in the background. This post is part of a new series of posts from the Jordanian Monarchy that will be widely disseminated in the coming months.
The bank finalized new images for the 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 Jordanian dinar notes and began circulating some of these new notes late last month. Previously, the 20 Jordanian dinar note depicted the shrine of the Dome of the Rock, located on the site of the ultra-sensitive Temple Mount, next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with an image of King Hussein on the front.
The new 20-dinar note also features the late monarch, but without the Temple Mount site, which has been a source of tension in recent months when the new Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in last month.
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The new coalition includes Itamar Ben Gvir, one of the leaders of the three far-right parties and new Minister of National Security. Ben Gvir, who has long been accused of being a provocateur, has visited the Temple Mount several times as a member of the Knesset and had also led a highly controversial nationalist march through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. On several occasions he had set up an office to this in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, a neighborhood that has also been at the center of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
The Temple Mount is revered by Jews as the historic site of the two Biblical temples, making it the holiest site in Judaism. It is also the third holiest site for Muslims, who call it the Al-Aqsa Mosque or Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. Many Palestinians reject the idea that the site is sacred to Jews. For nearly a century they have accused Israel and the Zionists of plotting to destroy the mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple, a move that is not supported by the majority of Israeli society.
Israel captured the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967, nearly twenty years after Amman captured it in the War of Independence in 1948. However, Israel allowed the Jordanian Waqf to continue to maintain religious authority over Mt.
The provocations and alleged violence at the site often escalated into major fires.
On Tuesday, despite reports that he would delay his visit, Ben Gvir visited the site, his first as a minister, in a move that was widely denounced by Israel’s allies, including the US, UK, France, Egypt , Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the opposition led by former Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount, January 3, 2023. (Minelet Har Habayit)
Jordan, which sees itself as guardian of the Temple Mount – a status Israel does not recognize, although it has recognized the kingdom’s “special role” at the site under the 1994 peace treaty between the two countries – has criticized Israel for the minister far-right visit and accused him of “storming” the site.
After the visit, the Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Eitan Surkis, was summoned to the Jordanian Foreign Ministry offices to “show off”, according to Israeli media. Surkis told Jordanians that Israel remains loyal to the the status quothat there had been no violation of the agreement and that Israeli ministers had visited the site in the past.
Ben Gvir has long been a proponent of a formal modification of the the status quo on the Temple Mount, where Muslims can pray and enter with few restrictions, while Jews can go there only for limited times, passing through a single gate and following a pre-established route, escorted by the police. Ben Gvir’s ministry oversees the police force. Jews are not allowed to pray on the site, or to bring religious objects or Israeli flags there, although police have increasingly allowed silent prayers in recent years.
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem with the shrine of the Dome of the Rock in the center, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinians and most of the international community vehemently reject any change to the current situation, although most Palestinians also oppose any Israeli-Jewish presence at the site, including police to maintain security.
Netanyahu has tried to assure Israel’s allies that he would not allow any changes, and has inserted a clause into all of his coalition agreements that the the status quo “concerning the holy places” will be preserved.
However, critics point to what they call the gradual erosion of the policy, with Jewish pilgrims often seen in recent years praying silently at the site as Israeli police watch.
