Amman, Sept. 17 (Petra) - The Senate’s Palestine Committee met on Thursday with Apostolic Nuncio to Jordan Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso to examine regional developments, the protection of Jerusalem’s holy sites, and preserving the city’s historical and legal status quo.
Committee Chair Mazen Darwazah thanked the Holy See for backing a two-state solution and reaffirmed Jordan's role, led by His Majesty King Abdullah II, in protecting Jerusalem's sacred sites under Hashemite Custodianship.
Darwazah warned against actions undermining the status quo at Aqsa Mosque and restricting freedom of worship. He cited a July 23 incident where 4,288 Israeli settlers raided the compound, alongside ongoing arrests, expulsions, and restrictions targeting Jerusalem Waqf staff and guards.
These pressures also affect Jerusalem’s indigenous Christian community, Darwazah added, noting a sharp population decline due to conflict, displacement, occupation, and severe socio-economic strain.
He pointed to 176 documented harassment incidents against Christians in 2025 alone, as well as an attempt during Holy Week to block Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The committee also noted the systemic damage to Palestinian higher education. Military raids continue to target West Bank universities, with UNESCO estimating that 95 percent of Gaza’s higher education infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, threatening the future of Palestinian youth.
Darwazah stated the Vatican's "crucial role" in defending religious freedom and human rights, stressing that lasting peace requires ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state based on June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Meanwhile, the committee stressed the necessity of sustained collaboration with the Vatican to protect Jerusalem's heritage and support the Palestinian people.
The archbishop, for his part, voiced the Holy See’s commitment to a two-state solution and hailed the King’s leadership in promoting peace, dialogue, and humanitarian relief for Gaza and the occupied West Bank. He also praised the Hashemite Custodianship for preserving Jerusalem's multi-religious identity.
//Petra// HA
