Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on the Temple Mount
Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on the Temple Mount
By Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, November 3, 2015
Hundreds of Muslims on the Temple Mount, yelling and throwing objects, surround three Jewish men and their children, as about a dozen police officers try to hold back the angry crowd and evacuate the Jews.
Why is the Palestinian Authority (PA) opposed to Jordan's proposal to install surveillance cameras at Jerusalem's Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount), sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews?
This is the question that many in Jordan have been asking in light of the recent agreement between Israel and Jordan that was reached under the auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry. The idea was first raised by Jordan's King Abdullah in a bid to ease tensions at the holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Shortly after Israel accepted the idea, the Palestinian Authority rushed to denounce it as a "new trap." PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki and other officials in Ramallah expressed concern that Israel would use the cameras to "arrest Palestinians under the pretext of incitement."
During the past two years, the Palestinian Authority and other parties, including Hamas and the Islamic Movement (Northern Branch) in Israel, have been waging a campaign of incitement against Jewish visits to the Haram al-Sharif. The campaign claimed that Jews were planning to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the approximately 37-acre (150,000 m 2 ) site, the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Movement in Israel hired scores of Muslim men and women to harass the Jewish visitors and the police officers escorting them. The men are referred to as Murabitoun , while the women are called Murabitat (defenders or guardians of the faith).
These men and women have since been filmed shouting and trying to assault Jews and policemen at the Haram al-Sharif. This type of video evidence is something that the Palestinian Authority is trying to avoid. The PA, together with the Islamic Movement, wants the men and women to continue harassing the Jews under the pretext of "defending" the Al-Aqsa Mosque from "destruction" and "contamination."
The installation of surveillance cameras at the site will expose the aggressive behavior of the Murabitoun and Murabitat , and show the world who is really "desecrating" the Islamic holy sites and turning them into a base for assaulting and abusing Jewish visitors and policemen.
The cameras are also likely to refute the claim that Jews are "violently invading" Al-Aqsa Mosque and holding prayers at the Temple Mount. The Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Islamic Movement have long been describing the Jewish visits as a "provocative and violent incursion" into Al-Aqsa Mosque. But now the cameras will show that Jews do not enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the Palestinians have been claiming.
Another reason the Palestinians are opposed to King Abdullah's idea is their fear that the cameras would expose that Palestinians have been smuggling stones, firebombs and pipe bombs into Al-Aqsa Mosque for the past two years. These are scenes at the PA, Hamas and the Islamic Movement do not want the world to see: they show who is really "contaminating" the Haram al-Sharif. Needless to say, no Jewish visitors have thus far been caught trying to smuggle such weapons into the holy site.
Palestinian Arab young men with masks, inside Al-Aqsa Mosque (some wearing shoes), stockpile rocks to use for throwing at Jews who visit the Temple Mount, September 27, 2015.
By rejecting the idea of setting up 24-hour surveillance cameras at the Haram al-Sharif, the Palestinian Authority has found itself on a course of collision with Jordan. Jordanian politicians and columnists have voiced outrage over the stance of the PA, and have dubbed it harmful to Palestinian and Islamic interests.
The Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad , which is close to the government, quoted Jordanian politicians as denouncing the opposition of the Palestinian Authority to the cameras as "inappropriate, clumsy, tasteless and unfair."
Sources in Ramallah explained this week that the PA's opposition to cameras should also be seen in the context of the power struggle between the Palestinians and Jordan over control of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. The Jordanians have long been seeking to preserve their status as "custodians" of Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. This is a status that some Palestinians and the Islamic Movement in Israel have been trying to change during the past two decades, especially after the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel in 1993.
The Palestinian Authority's opposition to the installation of cameras is seen as an attempt to undermine Jordan's status at the Islamic holy sites. Many Palestinians argue that they, and not the Jordanians, should be in charge of the Haram al-Sharif. Members of the PA are opposed to the cameras because it is a Jordanian proposal and reinforces Jordan's role at the holy site.
As such, the Palestinian Authority's position could be seen as an attempt to change the status quo at the holy site by driving the Jordanians out of the area. King Abdullah is obviously aware of the Palestinian attempt to prevent him from playing any role at the holy site; that is why he was quick to reach a deal with Israel about the installation of cameras. The PA, meanwhile, will continue to work against having cameras in the hope of preventing the world from seeing what is really happening at the site and undermining Jordan's "custodianship" over Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
It now remains to be seen how Secretary Kerry, who brokered the camera deal between Israel and Jordan, will react, if at all, to the latest Palestinian Authority attempt to continue escalating tensions at the holy site. If Kerry fails to pressure the PA to stop its incitement and repeated attempts to exclude the Jordanians from playing any positive role at the Haram al-Sharif, the current wave of knife attacks against Jews will continue.
Tags
Who is online
87 visitors
This is the Palestinian inciters vs Kerry, Jordan, Israel and TRUTH.
Which side are you on?
This could end up supplying a rich source of propaganda for Israel . No wonder the palestinians don't want it . It will inevitably make them look really bad ...
I can't stand the police state security cameras tracking our every move either. It's like it's straight out of Orwell's 1984. Big brother is watching.
They have a lot of public police video capture in Britain's big cities . It has prevented a certain amount of violence ...
I'm not into it at all. I see it as government overreach and an invasion of privacy. I don't want to live in a police state and give government any more control and invasion into our lives. If it was up to me I'd get rid of the TSA, NSA, and department of homeland security.
I can see why they would want to wear hijabs to protect themselves from big brother invading their privacy.
The hijabs are only for the females ... or are you drawing a different conclusion ? BTW photographing you w/o your permission does not constitute a police state ...
The Boston marathon bombers were caught BECAUSE of security cameras - otherwise their next move might have been to bomb YOU out of existence, Dean. Personally, because I don't break the law, I'm not afraid of that Orwellian problem that bothers you so much. The Palestinians are not concerned about Orwellian theories, they're concerned that the world will see the truth.
I didn't think anyone that would choose to live in communist China where Big brother doesn't even allow you to watch YouTube would see freedom the same way I do.
I have no problem living in this very capitalistic society. I'm much better off financially here and have better benefits than I would have on my limited pension income in Canada, save for Canada's free health care, and a good corned beef sandwich on rye. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment in a new high rise next to a subway station and all conveniences I could want. In Canada on my income I'd be living in a rooming house. For me, this is an adventure in my later life I could never have imagined. Since you have no personal knowledge of what it's like to live here you're just repeating propaganda. True I cannot watch YouTube unless I wanted to pay for a VPN which is unnecessary since I can use Tudou and Baidu to watch movies and listen to music. I can buy DVDs of recent movies for less than a US dollar. I've been here more than 9 years and never been stopped by a policeman or government official. In fact I have been invited to dinner with policemen and government officials many times and they are extremely friendly to and respectful of me. I'm apolitical and don't criticize their politics and they don't criticize mine. I do as the Romans do, I live and let live.
By the way, there are no security cameras watching me as I go in and out of my building. There are security cameras in the banks and on busy streets watching vehicle traffic, but is that any different than in North America?