Israel refuses Jordanian king's request to send Qur'an copies to Al-Aqsa

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid refused a request by Jordan's King Abdullah to deliver copies of the Qur'an to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a meeting with Lapid in the Jordanian capital Amman, King Abdullah asked that Jordan be allowed to send copies of the Qur'an to Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the request was rejected, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan 11.

King Abdullah had previously made the same request to Lapid's predecessor, Naftali Bennet, but was also refused.

He had been consistently making the same request to Isreali officials who visit Amman, including during a meeting with Israeli President Issac Herzog, the Kan report said.

Jordan, whose ruling Hashemite family has custodianship of the Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem, says that since 2000 Israel has undermined the kingdom's authority.

Amman has also accuses Israel of brushing off a centuries-old tradition under which non-Muslims do not worship in the mosque compound.

In April, Jordan intensified efforts to push Israel to respect the historic status quo at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque and avoid violent confrontations that could threaten a wider conflict.

Israel has denied accusations by Jordan and other Arab countries that it is trying to encroach on the Muslim holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, which it occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

It also says it is enforcing a long-standing ban on Jewish prayer at the compound, although Jewish extremists regularly storm the Al-Aqsa grounds and perform provocative religious rituals under the protection of Israeli forces.