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Netanyahu says camera installation at Aqsa Mosque must be done "through coordination"

Xinhua, October 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday the installation of video cameras at an east Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound must be carried out through coordination with Israeli authorities.

Netanyahu made the remarks amid charges made by the Jordanian-run Islamic trust which administers the holy site that it had been blocked earlier Monday by Israeli police as trying to install the cameras.

The Islamic trust Waqf said in a statement that its team which attempted to install cameras was stopped by the Israeli police which "interfered directly and stopped the work."

After meeting with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry managed to reach an agreement to install 24-hour surveillance cameras at the holy site on Saturday.

The step means to defuse tensions amid month-long violence between Israeli and Palestinians.

"Final arrangements for the manner and location of the cameras on the Temple Mount were intended to be coordinated by the professional elements," Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Monday.

The site, known as Temple Mount to Jews, believed to be the place where both temples stood and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, has been a catalyst for the recent outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel conquered the site from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed east Jerusalem, home to more than 300,000 Palestinians later.

According to understandings between Israel and Jordan, only Muslims can pray at the site, while others can visit in specific hours, due to the site's sensitivity.

Tensions around the site grew as Palestinians blamed Israel for attempting to change the status quo understandings.

Clashes at the site erupted in September between the Palestinians and Israeli security forces and quickly spread throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel.

A series of lone-wolf attacks and shooting by Palestinians have left 10 Israelis died and more than 100 injured in the past weeks.

Fifty-eight Palestinians have also died in clashes with Israeli security forces.

In the latest attack, the Israeli army shot dead a knife-wielding Palestinian on Monday near the West Bank city of Hebron, after he stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli soldier. Endit