Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved to bring cabinet members into line after a deputy minister said she “dreamed” of seeing the Israeli flag flying over the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Netanyahu’s remarks were first reported by Channel Two television late on Sunday.
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A military statement given Monday says the victim was “severely” wounded after being stabbed in the neck. Now, in response to the violence, the Netanyahu government is constructing barriers dividing Arab from Jewish neighborhoods, which have the effect of punishing those Palestinians who just a few months ago were saying they’d be content to become Israeli citizens.
The grand mufti of Jerusalem said in an interview with an Israeli television station that there has never been a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
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. Asked whether residency rights were included, he said the matter “deserves a serious discussion”. After the 1967 Middle East war, Israel expanded Jerusalem’s municipal borders by annexing parts of the West Bank to the city.
“We need to examine the possibility of cancelling their residency”, Netanyahu said.
Palestinian opinion in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is less temperate – but in the West Bank, a majority is still ready to accept a two-state solution, with no right of return for Palestinians to Israel.
The ministry drew attention to the fact a 17-year-old Palestinian high school student had been fatally wounded by Israeli soldiers on October 25 in Hebron. In the past five weeks, 10 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, while 51 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including 30 said by Israel to be attackers and the rest in clashes.
The latest violence was triggered partly by Palestinian fears that Israel is expanding its presence at the site, a claim Israel has denied.
Also on Monday, the Islamic trust administering the mosque – Israel controls the access – accused the Israeli police of blocking its effort to install security cameras on the site.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said in this regard that king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and US Kerry, discussed – during a meeting held in Riyadh on Saturday – ways to calm tension between the Palestinian-Israeli sides, and the need to provide the Palestinian people with worldwide protection.
Netanyahu has welcomed the plan, saying the cameras will prove that Israel is not doing anything wrong at the site.
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Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday quoted one army official as saying that he did not expect an ongoing wave of alleged Palestinian knife attacks to end anytime soon. The initial police report identified the victim as a soldier, although the military has not confirmed this.
