AMMAN, Jordan, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A group of Jordanian lawmakers has demanded the government expel Israel's ambassador in Amman and remove the Jordanian envoy from Tel Aviv.
A memorandum signed by 25 elected parliamentary members called Thursday for this diplomatic punishment on the grounds that Israel has violated its 1994 peace treaty with Jordan by excavating near Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine.
According to the treaty, Jordan retains its custodianship of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, which was under Jordanian control when Israel captured the eastern part of the holy city and the West Bank in 1967.
"We demand the government to publicly declare that Israel has violated Article 9 of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty through the Israeli occupation's excavation measures at al-Aqsa Mosque and its hateful attempts to attack" the site, the lawmakers said.
In addition to demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the removal the kingdom's ambassador to Israel, the signatories from the 110-seat Parliament urged other Arab countries that have ties with the Jewish state to do the same.
Egypt is the only other Arab country to have a peace accord with Israel.
Israel's excavations near al-Aqsa, also known as Temple Mount, have drawn widespread Arab and Islamic condemnations as an attempt to destroy the holy shrine.
The Jordanian government says it is in contact with other Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the international community, to exert pressure on Israel to stop the digging in Jerusalem and to ensure such excavations will not take place in the future.
