Israeli agriculture minister: I stormed al-Aqsa with PM's consent

The Israeli agriculture minister has revealed that he had the prior consent of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Minister of Internal Security Gilad Ardenne before storming al-Aqsa Mosque on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha - and in all previous occasions.

Uri Ariel told the nationalist Israeli newspaper, Makor Rishon, that he intended to visit al-Aqsa repeatedly to allow more members of right-wing messianic nationalist Jewish movements to enter the al-Aqsa compound, known as al-Haram al-Sharif.

He had "recently refrained from taking this step at the recommendations of security authorities", he added.

Ariel also revealed that he sent an official letter to Netanyahu before the prime minister travelled to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State John Kerry, telling him that he would not accept any concessions from the Israeli authorities remaining in control of who enters or leaves the al-Aqsa compound.

Ariel threatened to resign if Netanyahu were to accept proposals to return the holy site to Jordanian administration, under the guardianship of the Jordanian Islamic Endowments.
Even though Netanyahu rejected the Jordanian proposal, the Israeli right-wing parties continue to exert pressure on him, hinting that they would jeopardise the coalition government.

This has prompted the Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II, to refuse a bilateral meeting with the Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu on Thursday said that he was contacting Arab leaders to calm the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and put an end to the violence.

Haaretz reported that the Israeli army expects the violence to continue and the security situation to deteriorate in the absence of any new political initiative.

Major General Nitzan Alon, the former head of Israel's Central Command, said in September that Jewish "price tag" terrorists were contributing to the security instability in the West Bank - and their impact could not be ignored.