Amman, March 29, 2026 (WAFA) – The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities' prevention of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and holding Palm Sunday Mass.

The Ministry considered this a blatant violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and the existing legal and historical status quo, as well as a violation of the right to unrestricted access to places of worship.

The Ministry's official spokesperson, Ambassador Fouad Majali, affirmed the Kingdom's condemnation and absolute rejection of the illegal and restrictive Israeli measures against Christians, preventing them from freely accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to perform their religious rites. He stressed the necessity of respecting the existing legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites, emphasizing that Israel, the occupying power, has no sovereignty over Jerusalem, and that all measures impeding worshippers' access to their places of worship must cease.

Majali reiterated the Kingdom's condemnation of Israel's continued closure of the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif to worshippers and its restrictions on freedom of worship. He described it as a flagrant violation of international law, the existing legal and historical status, and Israel's obligations as an occupying power, warning of the dangers of its continuation.

He called on the international community to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities and compel Israel to cease its violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, respect the city's historical and legal status, and fulfill the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign state on their national soil based on the two-state solution.

K.T