Century plan has not yet been implemented, but regional order is already changing • Saudi and Israel are secretly negotiating, US-mediated • Goal: foothold on the Temple Mount - at the expense of Turkey • Bridesmaid: Jordan • "Jordanians need Saudi money"

• Al-Aqsa Mosque, Saudi Crown Prince Ben Salman and King Abdullah

  Photo: 

  Moshe Shai, IP

Alongside the centennial plan drafted by US President Donald Trump, and the plan to apply Israeli law in the Jordan Valley and the major settlement blocs in the Judea and Samaria, US-Saudi-backed secret contacts between December and Saudi Arabia have been underway since December last year.

Senior Saudi diplomats quoted in detail confirmed to "Israel Today" that "these are sensitive and covert contacts that were conducted in ambiguity and low intensity by a limited team of senior diplomats and security officials from Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia as part of the contacts to advance the centennial plan."

Trump and Netanyahu present century plan // Photo: White House spokesmen

According to a senior Saudi diplomat, a few months ago, the Jordanians - who have a special and exclusive status in managing the Islamic Waqf on the Temple Mount - strongly opposed any change in the Islamic Waqf Council's composition on the Temple Mount, but the change in Amman's stance came as a result of intense Turkish involvement in East Jerusalem in general and in the Temple Mount. .

Following the violent events at the Gate of Mercy in the al-Aqsa Mosque complex and following the magnitude of the Israeli police at the entrance to the Temple Mount and removed by Rabbi Ammon, the Jordanians expanded the Islamic Waqf Council on the Temple Mount and an unusual move contrary to the Oslo Accords allowed Palestinian involvement in the Palestinian Authority. However, the Palestinian delegates, who were incorporated as members of the council, allowed Islamic-Turkish organizations a foothold in the holy complex by establishing associations to which the Turkish government injected tens of millions of dollars, directly under the directive of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As a result, the Jordanians have sent messages to Israel and the US that the Ammonite royal house will be ready to soften its position when it comes to integrating Saudi representatives into the Waqf Council.

This is under certain conditions that will not damage the exclusive and special status of the Jordanian royal house on the Temple Mount and provided that Saudi Arabia will flow millions of dollars as a donation to Islamic associations operating in East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and will exert diplomatic and political pressure to remove the Turkish Islamic organizations operating under Palestinian patronage.

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A senior Arab diplomat told Israel Today that "if the Jordanians had allowed the Turks to operate without interruption in al-Aqsa, within a few years they would have remained 'just on paper' as having a special status in managing the holy places of Islam. They need money and influence from Saudi Arabia to To curb Erdogan. Israel and the US also have an interest here in their desire to support Saudi Arabia in advancing the century plan and during annexation, which is also why Saudi Arabia brings with it the support of the UAE and Bahrain. "

The senior source added, "It is still too early to say whether the move will be implemented. The intention is that the integration of Saudi delegates will constitute observers' constellations only and not binding, so that Jordan's exclusive status in the Holy Basin is not harmed." 

The mountain opens

In the meantime, after two months in which it was closed to worshipers and visitors and in the background of the tensions surrounding the killing of Iyad al-Khalak, the Temple Mount for Muslim worshipers opened yesterday. Hundreds of worshipers came to the compound and several dozen waved the PLO flags, tried to confront the police and eight were detained for questioning.