JERUSALEM (JTA) — The plan to install surveillance cameras on the Temple Mount will not include cameras inside the two mosques there, King Abdullah II of Jordan said.
Abdullah also said Wednesday evening in Amman that it would take about six weeks to install cameras on the site, despite previous statements that the cameras would be installed almost immediately. The king made the statements to a delegation visiting from eastern Jerusalem.
Palestinians have voiced opposition to the round-the-clock surveillance plan, calling it a violation of the status quo and an Israeli plot to arrest more Palestinians. The king said the feed would go to Jordan. He did not say what Israel’s role would be, The Associated Press reported.
“Each time Jordan takes an official position, there are those who are skeptical,” Abdullah said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The project of installing the cameras is a Jordanian project that will be carried out through the Waqf Department in cooperation with our Palestinian brothers.”
The Waqf is the Jordan-based authority that oversees the Temple Mount, which has been at the center of a spate of Palestinian attacks on Jewish-Israelis in recent weeks and Israeli efforts to stem the violence.
The plan, which was announced late last month by the United States with support from Israel and Jordan, aims to deter violence at the site, which is holy to Muslims and Jews. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described the plan proposed by Jordan as a “game-changer.”
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