Over the same period, 10 Israelis have been killed in alleged knife attacks by Palestinians, while the Israeli military has reportedly said it was preparing for continued violence into the long-term future.
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But there has been no apparent action towards implementing a Jordanian proposal, promoted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to try to stem the bloodshed – by installing cameras to monitor Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Israeli and Jordanian officials said Tuesday that new surveillance cameras should be installed within days at the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the Internet for maximum transparency.
Increasing numbers of religious Jews visiting the compound – which is Islam’s holiest site outside Saudi Arabia and revered in Judaism as the location of two destroyed biblical temples – have led to Palestinian allegations that Israel is violating a “status quo” under which Jewish prayer there is banned.
The death of yet another Palestinian youth in clashes with Israeli security forces on Monday night has raised the total number of Palestinians killed this month to 61. In all, 11 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, while 52 Palestinians, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers, have been killed by Israeli fire.
With efforts to defuse tensions already strained, deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely stoked Palestinian fears by saying it was her “dream to see the Israeli flag flying” over the holy site, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu made??it clear that he expects all members of the government to act accordingly”, his office said in a statement.
Netanyahu said that arrangements to install the cameras “were supposed to be coordinated at the professional level”, as highlighted by Kerry who mentioned technical teams from both sides should meet.
The Palestinians have given the plan a cool reception, saying Israel will use the cameras to arrest people and complaining that deeper issues have been ignored.
An Israeli wounded in an October 13 Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem bus died of his wounds on Tuesday, the city’s Hadassah hospital said in a statement.
“[This is] evidence that Israel wants to install cameras that only serve its own interests – not cameras that show the truth”, mosque administrators said in a statement.
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Richard Lakin, a former school principal in Glastonbury, Connecticut, immigrated to Israel in the early 1980s.
