Waqf Says Will Not Accept Any Cameras
Israel overnight removed both the metal detectors and the cameras that had been placed at the Temple Mount site, which Palestinians call the Haram al Sharif that has sparked rioting throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. At the same time Israel said it would install new “smart” cameras with facial recognition software and infrared technology, to determine if someone is carrying guns or explosives.
“The Security Cabinet accepted the recommendation of all of the security bodies to incorporate security measures based on advanced technologies (“smart checks”) and other measures instead of metal detectors in order to ensure the security of visitors and worshippers in the Old City and on the Temple Mount,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement.
The cabinet also allocated $28 million for the new cameras and said they could take up to six months to install. But a senior official of the Waqf, Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, the head of the Supreme Islamic Committee, said that he had instructed Muslims to continue their boycott of the site which is holy to Jews and Muslims, pending a review of the new security arrangements.
A Wafq spokesman told The Media Line that they oppose any cameras at the site. The new arrangements were put in place after three Arab citizens of Israel stabbed and killed two Israeli policemen with weapons they had previously stashed at the holy site.
“Israel climbed down from the tree and is trying to find a way to keep its dignity,” the media spokesperson of the Waqf, Khaled Al-Zawawed told The Media Line. “Israel should only talk about removing the gates and the cameras and allowing Muslims to pray in Al-Aqsa. It is a place for Muslims and only Muslims.”
The decision to take the metal detectors down came after days of escalating tensions at the site, and a Palestinian terrorist attack that killed three Israelis in Halamish on Friday. In Jordan on Sunday, a security guard at the Israeli embassy shot and killed two Jordanians after one of them reportedly stabbed him while they were installing furniture in his apartment.
Israel insisted that the Israeli had diplomatic immunity and wanted to bring him back to Israel immediately, but Jordanian officials said they wanted to question him and refused to allow him to leave.
As Jordan is the administrator of the Waqf, which controls the Temple Mount site, an apparent deal was worked out in which the Israeli security guard was allowed to leave in exchange for Israel dismantling the metal detectors at the Jerusalem site.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Monday, and senior Israeli intelligence officials traveled to Jordan to try to resolve the situation. US officials were also involved in the negotiations.
“There are good days and bad days and yesterday was a 14 on 10. There was a situation in Jordan that could have been severe. But U.S. officials working behind the scene together with the Israeli government and King Abdullah of Jordan were able to diffuse the situation,” US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told a US-Israel parliamentary caucus in the Knesset. “All I will say about the negotiations is that they went well.”
Israeli officials were clearly relieved that the incident with Jordan, which has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1994, was settled peacefully.
“A weight has been lifted from my heart,” the security guard, identified only as Ziv, told Netanyahu in a meeting with him a few hours after returning to Israel. “Thank you from my heart. I am happy to be here. Einat (Shlein, Israel’s ambassador to Jordan) and I felt that people were standing behind us and were making every effort, we felt this and I am glad that we are here.”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also had praise for Jordanian King Abdullah.
“After a long and tense few days, I want to welcome back home the staff of our embassy in Jordan,” Rivlin said after the embassy staff returned to Israel. “We waited for you with concern, and followed closely your impressive conduct throughout the crisis, under the leadership of Ambassador Einat Schlein. The State of Israel’s longstanding cooperation with the Hashemite Kingdom and King Abdullah, who knew to help wisely also now, played a significant part in the efforts to bring an end to the crisis, and we deeply appreciate this.
Israeli analysts say that the current tensions show that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which had been primarily an Israeli-Palestinian national conflict, is becoming a religious Muslim-Jewish conflict. Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli border policewomen in recent attacks in Jerusalem’s Old City.
“Muslims consider the entire esplanade of the Temple Mount to be a mosque,” Yossi Alpher, the author of “No End of Conflict: Rethinking Israel-Palestine”, and a former senior intelligence official told The Media Line. “There have been a series of attempts by Islamic extremists to demonstrate that Israel is not really able to control the Temple Mount.”