Israel, US Reject International Observers on Temple Mount

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Israel, the United States and other countries are working together to remove from the agenda a French draft for a UN Security Council presidential statement calling for international observers to be deployed on the Temple Mount, senior officials in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Saturday.
"The French proposal is completely absurd," a senior Israeli official said, noting that it is only a declarative step.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen and the Foreign Ministry to protest the biased and absurd phrasing of the draft to France, Israeli daily (Haaretz) quoted the official as saying.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli official stressed that Israel is safeguarding the status quo and is committed to it. According to him, Jews are allowed to visit the site only according the status quo. He added that according to the 1949 armistice agreement, Jewish access to the Temple Mount was internationally guaranteed.