A fresh and explosive controversy has erupted over the future of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after Palestinian officials issued a stark warning against reported US and Israeli efforts to dismantle Jordan’s century-old historic custodianship of the revered Islamic site, a shift that would reorient the holy space to align closely with Israeli interests.
The public warning came just hours after Middle East Eye (MEE) first published its exclusive reporting revealing the ongoing US-Israeli push for a new governing arrangement at the site. In an official statement released Tuesday by the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governorate, officials warned that the leaked proposal would effectively impose Israeli sovereignty over the holy compound and destroy the long-standing diplomatic status quo that has governed the site for decades.
“The Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem is an internationally recognised historical, legal and political authority,” the governorate affirmed in its statement. “It serves as a fundamental safeguard for protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and preserving its Arab and Islamic identity.”
According to MEE’s Monday reporting, the draft plan seeks to end the 102-year governance of the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf, the religious trust that has overseen the site since the British Mandate era. Under the proposed changes, the Al-Aqsa compound would be rebranded as a “multi-faith centre”, granting Jews equal access to the site and formally allowing organized large-group Jewish prayer. The proposal would also grant Israel significant power over key administrative decisions, including the appointment of imams, senior mosque staff, and preachers, as well as formal oversight over the content of weekly Friday sermons.
Two anonymous U.S. officials confirmed to MEE that Washington has already drafted a policy document outlining its vision for the site’s future. The officials noted that the previous Trump administration aimed to strip Al-Aqsa of its exclusive Muslim identity, repositioning the compound as a global tourist landmark open to all three Abrahamic faiths.
The Palestinian Jerusalem governorate called the proposal a “dangerous escalation” if implemented, noting that its core goal is the deliberate erasure of the mosque’s exclusively Islamic character.
Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy has held custodianship over both Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem since 1924, during the period of British Mandate rule over Palestine. This role was formally codified in Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel, which explicitly recognized Amman’s “special role” in overseeing Jerusalem’s Islamic holy sites.
Despite this formal recognition, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders have warned for years that the status quo has been gradually eroded by successive Israeli governments, as well as increasingly emboldened far-right Israeli groups that demand greater Jewish control over the Al-Aqsa compound. Frequent Israeli police raids inside the mosque compound, a steady rise in visits by ultranationalist Jewish activists, and repeated public calls from sitting Israeli ministers for official Jewish prayer rights at the site have all fueled claims that Israel is quietly chipping away at the existing governing arrangement.
Waqf officials have also repeatedly told MEE that beyond imposing harsh restrictions on Palestinian worshippers, Israel has systematically blocked the Waqf from carrying out critical maintenance and repair work across the Al-Aqsa compound.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has repeatedly issued public warnings against any attempts to alter the site’s status quo. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly last year, the king emphasized that any attack on Jerusalem’s holy sites would “ignite the feelings of more than a billion Muslims around the world.”
The controversy comes amid a separate provocative move by Israeli authorities Tuesday: Israel’s civil administration, the body that enforces Israeli law and policy in the occupied West Bank, announced it was seizing full control of the tomb of the Prophet Samuel (Nabi Samuel), another major religious landmark currently managed by the Islamic Waqf.
In its statement, the Palestinian Jerusalem governorate issued an urgent call for international intervention, urging the United Nations, UNESCO, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Arab League to step in immediately to block any attempts to undermine the status quo in occupied Jerusalem.
The governorate warned that any move to weaken Jordan’s custodianship or alter the fundamental Islamic identity of Al-Aqsa Mosque would carry “serious repercussions for security and stability in the region.”