King Abdullah II of Jordan (2nd L, front) is received by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (1st L, front) in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Aug. 7, 2017. (Xinhua/Luay Sababa)
RAMALLAH, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II visited the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday and met with Palestinian President Abbas to reaffirm his stand.
The king visited the Palestinian presidential headquarters in Ramallah, and held a bilateral meeting with Abbas days after holy shrine crisis that led to clashes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
On Sunday, the Jordanian King warned that the future of the Palestinian question is at stakes, urging international powers to push for progress.
The king also said "without the Hashemite custodianship and the steadfastness of the Jerusalemites, the holy sites would have been lost many years ago," according to the official Jordanian news agency.
King Abdulllah is the official custodian of Al-Aqsa Mosque that follows the Jordanian Waqf since 1948.
He added that "our success requires one stand with the Palestinian brothers, so that our cause wouldn't be weakened and our rights would be maintained."
The Jordanian king has visited the Palestinian territories several times, and the most recent visit was in 2012.
After Israeli took over East Jerusalem in 1967, it was obliged to respect the status quo and not make any changes to the historical status, law and institutions in East Jerusalem, including the Jordan administered holy mosque.
Governor of Jerusalem Adnan Al-Husseini told Xinhua Monday that this visit is highly significant to the Palestinians, and means that the Palestine and Jordan are closing ranks in order to accommodate the situation in East Jerusalem.
"We have gone through a tough situation in the past two weeks, in an almost unprecedented confrontation with the (Israeli) occupation, but thanks god and to the coordination with all parties the efforts of the people of Jerusalem, we were able to exit this crisis peacefully," said Al-Husseini.
He went on saying "this visit is a message of support for Palestinian after they have come out of this tough confrontation, and we hope that whit meeting will yield a coordination for future confrontations (with Israel) because this is a horrible occupation that has no peace agenda."
The Palestinian Mufti Mohammad Hussein said that a special technical committee is currently assessing the situation in Al-Aqsa Mosque after Israeli authorities removed all new security measures at its gates.
"We highly value this visit by the king, and we are sure that Al-Aqsa Mosque and all Islamic and Christian holy sites in the holy city (Jerusalem) is a top priority to King Abdullah II," said the Mufti.
Palestinian officials repeatedly said that Israel might be interested in changing the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas suspended contacts with the Israeli side on all levels on July 21, including security coordination.
He later said that the suspension will not end before it is reassessed along with other issues, in reference to settlement activity, military activity in the West Bank and other Israeli unilateral moves.
