Monday, February 29, 2016

Is The Temple Mount Camera Surveillance Project Proceeding? But Without Israel?

The Jordanian delegation at Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount planning the surveillance cameras:




They've come to proceed, seemingly without Israel, to affix the cameras agreed upon by Kerry, Netanyahu and Abdallah way back when as summed up:

Video surveillance of Jerusalem’s holiest site was meant to be a quick fix to lower tensions that have driven months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but disputes over who controls the footage and what the cameras may or may not film are holding up the project...Jordan, the custodian of the shrine, says the camera project is moving forward, but that it’s still in the phase of technical preparations.
...U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the video surveillance plan during an October visit to Jordan, which administers the Haram as-Sharif, Islam’s third holiest site and home of the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques...Kerry regularly raises its importance as a confidence-building measure in his conversations with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials. Privately, though, some officials concede that the disagreements are so serious the cameras might never be installed.Initially, the details were to be worked out between the Israelis and the Jordanians, and officials suggested the cameras would be installed in a matter of weeks. But major sticking points quickly emerged.Israel wants surveillance inside Al Aqsa, arguing that this would expose Palestinians hoarding stones and firecrackers in the mosque for clashes with Israeli security forces.Jordan wants the cameras to only show the outdoor areas of the compound, including large plazas around the two mosques. Jordan’s king said in November that “there will be no cameras inside the mosque.” He gave no reason, but Palestinians have said they fear Israel will use the footage to spy on activists.
...“We remain committed to a solution that gives total transparency,” said a senior Israeli official when asked if Israel insists on having cameras inside the mosque. “We believe provocations can be exposed when they happen, and it can be clear what side they are coming from.”Israel also wants video footage to refute repeated Muslim allegations of Israeli plans to partition the compound, as was done at another contested holy site in the West Bank city of Hebron...Azzam Khatib, in charge of Jordanian-run Muslim endowment, or Waqf, which is in charge of the mosque compound, said the surveillance cameras should be managed by Muslim authorities “without interference from the Israelis.”
“As the king has said, there will be a control room for the cameras under the sole responsibility of the Waqf, and the images will be broadcast to the world through the Internet around the clock,” said Khatib, a Palestinian.
Minister of Awqaf and Jordan Hayel Daoud said that "technical delegation from the ministry is visiting the city of Jerusalem during the day to complete the final stages of technical and engineering studies for the project of installing surveillance cameras at the Al Aqsa Mosque in the backyards and courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Daud explained that the monitoring process will be around the clock, and will be broadcast over the Internet directly to all parts of the world everything that is happening inside the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Is the Temple Mount camera surveillance project proceeding? 
But without Israel?
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11:45 PM Update:

Haaretz basically spins Daoud's version:


Progress has been made in the negotiations between Israel and Jordan over placing surveillance cameras on the Temple Mount. Senior Israeli and Jordanian officials said Sunday that the two sides had reached agreement on a significant number of disputed items that had delayed implementation of the understandings formulated over three months ago through the mediation of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Jordan’s Minister of Religious Trusts, Hail Daoud, said Sunday that a delegation of technicians from his ministry will visit Jerusalem during the next few days to expedite the final engineering and technical arrangements involved in installing cameras on the various plazas of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Senior Israeli officials confirmed his remarks. The progress in the talks was first reported Sunday by Channel 10.

The Jordanian minister presented the main points of understandings reached regarding the cameras. The cameras will be installed in the large plazas and in a few other locations in the Temple Mount compound but contrary to Israel’s demand, no cameras will be installed in the mosques.The minister said that the cameras will broadcast simultaneously to Jordanian and Israeli control rooms. Transmissions will be live, 24 hours a day. The Jordanian minister said that to facilitate this a computerized communications network would be set up to link the Temple Mount to the Ministry of Religious Trusts in Amman.
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