Penelope
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Kerry: Israel agrees to round the clock surveillance at Temple Mount, committed to status quo
US secretary of state: Netanyahu has agreed to 24-7 video surveillance in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound, Israeli officials and Waqf authorities soon to meet to discuss meeting tensions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Israel and Jordan have agreed on steps aimed at reducing tensions at a holy site in Jerusalem that have fanned Israeli-Palestinian violence. Kerry said Netanyahu had expressed a commitment to continue enforcing the status quo, which says only Muslims may pray at the compound, while non-Muslims may only visit.
Noting the video monitoring, Kerry said it would provide "comprehensive visibility and transparency, and that could really be a game-changer in discouraging anybody from disturbing the sanctity of this holy site."
"Israel will continue to enforce its long-standing policy on religious worship ... at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, including the fundamental fact that it is Muslims who pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, and non-Muslims who visit," Kerry added.
"I hope that based on these conversations we can finally put to rest some of the false assumptions, perceptions" about the holy site, Kerry said. "Those perceptions are stoking the tensions and fueling the violence and it is important for us to end the provocative rhetoric and start to change the public narrative that comes out of those false perceptions."
It should be noted that Israel strongly opposed a recent French initiative to place international observers at the Temple Mount, a proposal that led to the French ambassador being reprimanded by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. (too funny, reprimaned , what did he have to do stand in the corner!!)
Kerry: Israel agrees to round the clock surveillance at Temple Mount, committed to status quo
I'm sure the zealots will have a fit.
US secretary of state: Netanyahu has agreed to 24-7 video surveillance in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound, Israeli officials and Waqf authorities soon to meet to discuss meeting tensions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Israel and Jordan have agreed on steps aimed at reducing tensions at a holy site in Jerusalem that have fanned Israeli-Palestinian violence. Kerry said Netanyahu had expressed a commitment to continue enforcing the status quo, which says only Muslims may pray at the compound, while non-Muslims may only visit.
Noting the video monitoring, Kerry said it would provide "comprehensive visibility and transparency, and that could really be a game-changer in discouraging anybody from disturbing the sanctity of this holy site."
"Israel will continue to enforce its long-standing policy on religious worship ... at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, including the fundamental fact that it is Muslims who pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, and non-Muslims who visit," Kerry added.
"I hope that based on these conversations we can finally put to rest some of the false assumptions, perceptions" about the holy site, Kerry said. "Those perceptions are stoking the tensions and fueling the violence and it is important for us to end the provocative rhetoric and start to change the public narrative that comes out of those false perceptions."
It should be noted that Israel strongly opposed a recent French initiative to place international observers at the Temple Mount, a proposal that led to the French ambassador being reprimanded by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. (too funny, reprimaned , what did he have to do stand in the corner!!)
Kerry: Israel agrees to round the clock surveillance at Temple Mount, committed to status quo
I'm sure the zealots will have a fit.
