Sunday, October 25, 2015

U.S. Proposes Steps To Ease Tensions Between The Israelis And Palestinians



Reuters: Kerry lays out steps to ease Israeli-Palestinian strife

The United States on Saturday proposed steps, including 24-hour video surveillance, to end weeks of violence over a Jerusalem site holy to Muslims and Jews.

Speaking in Amman after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel had embraced "an excellent suggestion" by the king, who is the custodian of the site within Jerusalem's walled Old City, for round-the-clock monitoring.

Kerry said Israel had also given assurances it had no intention of changing the status quo at the al-Aqsa mosque compound that is the third holiest site in Islam. Muslims refer to the site as the Noble Sanctuary, or Haram al-Sharif, Jews call it Temple Mount.

Update #1: Kerry: Video monitoring to ease Jerusalem holy site tensions -- AP
Update #2: Kerry: Netanyahu Agrees to Cameras on Temple Mount to Show Israel Not Changing Status Quo -- Haaretz

WNU Editor: Will this be enough to calm down the violence .... I doubt it. The differences between the Israelis and Palestinians are huge, installing a few cameras and making a few promises is not going to change the deep animosity between the two sides.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

True, but it makes people like Kerry look good.

opit said...

"Big Brother is watching You"
In any list of results of implementing this proposal - to identify and monitor visitors - tension reduction should come last as it is a flat out lie.