More bloodshed as bid to ease tensions over Jerusalem's Aqsa falters
Date
10/27/2015 3:07:47 AM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
At least 58 Palestinians and eight Israelis have been killed since the beginning of the month EPA
Fresh anti-Israeli violence saw three Palestinians shot dead in the West Bank Monday while efforts to douse tensions over Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound by installing cameras at the site ran into trouble.
A surge of violence in the conflict showed no sign of abating as Palestinians most of them teenagers from the powder-keg city of Hebron staged more lone-wolf knife attacks against Israeli soldiers and clashed with troops in the occupied West Bank.
Stabbings and violent protests have become daily occurrences since simmering tensions over the status of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City boiled over in early October leaving scores dead.
On Monday night Israel said it carried out an air strike against two Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after a rocket fired from across the border crashed into an open field without causing any injuries.
Of the three Palestinians that were shot dead Monday one stabbed an Israeli soldier in the neck and another was killed while attempting a stabbing attack the army said.
Separately a 17-year-old was shot dead when clashes erupted near Hebron but the cause of the protest was not given.
Monday's violence took the number of Palestinians killed in attempted attacks and clashes to 56. An Israeli Arab attacker was also killed.
And after Israel agreed on Saturday to install surveillance cameras at Al-Aqsa which US Secretary of State John Kerry described as a "game changer" the measure quickly hit its first obstacle.
The Jordanian-run trust which administers the site known as the Waqf complained that when its officials showed up to install the cameras early on Monday they were blocked by Israeli police.
"We consider the matter evidence that Israel wants to install cameras that only serve its own interests" said Waqf.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back in a statement arguing arrangements to install the cameras "were supposed to be coordinated at the professional level".
When announcing the agreement Kerry said Jordanian and Israeli technical teams would have to meet to discuss its implementation.
But Sheikh Azzam al-Khateeb head of the Waqf said it was Jordanian King Abdullah II who had made the decision to go ahead with the installation.
"There is no other authority in the mosque except the administration of the Jordanian Islamic Waqf... no one has the right to (carry out) this action except the Waqf administration" Khateeb told AFP.
Palestinians want the status quo to revert to what it was in 2000 when Jordan controlled access and not Israel which often imposes restrictions.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is in east Jerusalem which was seized from Jordan in the 1967 war. While Amman has retained custodial rights over the holy sites Israel controls access.
The compound is considered the third holiest site in Islam and is revered by Jews as their holiest site known as the Temple Mount.
AFP