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One of the bedrocks of the 19th-century status quo agreement governing Jerusalem’s holy places is that each faith community has the exclusive right to pray in its own houses of worship. This principle was reaffirmed on Nov. 13, 2014, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah, in the presence of then-US Secretary of State John Kerry, summarized it in one simple but important sentence: “Al-Aqsa is for Muslims to pray and for all others to visit.”

Yet, in recent years, this status quo has been eroding at an alarming pace. Jewish groups continue to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound without coordination with its Muslim owners and Hashemite custodians. The number of incursions has increased, while Al-Aqsa guards, who are on the Jordanian waqf payroll, are prevented from enforcing the long-established rules.

The violations reached boiling point on Aug. 3, when Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led an extraordinarily large group of supporters into the mosque compound and openly carried out Jewish prayers. Videos circulated by the Temple Mount Administration, a small Jewish organization, showed Ben-Gvir leading his group inside the compound and additional footage appeared to show him praying. Jordan’s Foreign Ministry issued a scathing condemnation.

Just days later, on Aug. 15, the foreign ministers of 31 Arab and Islamic countries, joined by the heads of the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council, released a joint statement warning of the “dangers of the continued expansionist settlement policy in the Occupied West Bank pursued by the extremist Israeli government, including attempts targeting Islamic and Christian holy sites, foremost among them Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.” The statement described these actions as nothing less than “settler terrorism.”

Netanyahu says the status quo ‘has not changed and will not change.’ But this claim has no relationship to reality

Daoud Kuttab

Jordan has even signaled its intention to add these violations of the status quo to the Palestinian complaint against Israel already under consideration by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Despite this, the office of the Israeli prime minister responded with its usual refrain. According to Reuters, Netanyahu repeated the same line he has used for years: the status quo “has not changed and will not change.” But this claim has no relationship to reality.

Further proof came on Monday, when hundreds of Israeli settlers, under the protection of heavily armed security forces, entered Al-Aqsa. In a particularly provocative act, some blew the shofar within the compound — an overt Jewish ritual that directly violates the agreed rules. Palestinian officials condemned the act as a grave violation of the sanctity of the Islamic holy site.

Wasfi Kilani, executive director of the Hashemite Fund for the Reconstruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque and a member of the Waqf Council, warned of the seriousness of the situation in a June interview with Akhbar Al-Balad: “The recent Jewish ideological extremism among settler organizations and extremists has left us no room for speculation. Their goal is openly declared: to destroy and demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to establish the so-called temple. Ministers and Knesset members are inciting and bills are being presented to transform part of Al-Aqsa into a synagogue.”

Even respected Israeli voices have acknowledged the reality. Yitzhak Reiter, president of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel, told Jerusalem Story, an English-language site dedicated to the city: “In my opinion, we have long since passed the tipping point and the point of no return. The police control Al-Aqsa today. As long as Ben-Gvir is minister of police and this government remains in power, this process will continue gradually but steadily.”

The consequences of this erosion of the status quo are deeply dangerous. Any further escalation could ignite a major round of violence. Yet, while Arab and Muslim countries have repeatedly sounded the alarm, most Western capitals — especially Washington — remain conspicuously silent.

While Arab and Muslim countries have repeatedly sounded the alarm, most Western capitals remain silent

Daoud Kuttab

Some might argue that these violations are minor compared with the horrors of Gaza, where Palestinians are enduring famine and what many international experts describe as genocide. Others point to Netanyahu’s own rhetoric, in which he has proclaimed a “historic and spiritual mission” to create a “Greater Israel” — an expansion that would come at the expense not only of Palestinian statehood but also Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, �������� and Egypt.

But the issue of Al-Aqsa cannot be dismissed as secondary. The compound has long been a flashpoint that can inflame the entire region. Previous uprisings and waves of resistance have often been triggered by perceived threats to Al-Aqsa. Violations of the status quo cut to the core of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim identity — and any attempt to change the rules risks unleashing uncontrollable violence.

Meanwhile, Israel is working relentlessly to block Palestinian aspirations for an independent state on the 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem. Yet momentum for recognition of Palestine is growing internationally. The upcoming UN General Assembly is expected to witness a wave of new recognitions and, by the end of September, four-fifths of UN Security Council permanent members and nearly 80 percent of UN member states will have recognized Palestine. Israel’s obstruction of Palestinian statehood, combined with its provocations at Al-Aqsa, is creating a political and religious powder keg.

If left unchecked, the collision course is obvious: global rejection of Israel’s expansionist policies, regional instability and, potentially, another eruption of violence centered on Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa Mosque and its Hashemite custodianship enjoy broad international support. But support alone is not enough. The international community — particularly the US and Europe — must make clear that any violation of the status quo will not be tolerated. Preserving Al-Aqsa’s integrity is not just a matter of religious freedom or international law, it is essential for regional and global peace.

Unless immediate steps are taken to enforce the historic status quo, the danger of explosion will only grow — and the entire world will be forced to bear the consequences.

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of Palestine NOW: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab