
Israel remains in favor of installing security cameras on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, even after Jordan reneged on the project due to Palestinian reservations, a senior official said Tuesday.
"Israel's support for placing cameras on the Temple Mount remains unchanged. That's because we believe in transparency," the Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"It is regrettable that the Palestinian Authority objects to this idea. It's clear that they don't want repeated Palestinian provocations caught on tape," the official said.
On March 20, Jordan said it would set up 55 security cameras around the flashpoint compound to monitor any Israeli "violations." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu originally said the plan was to monitor violent terror-funded Arab rioters, although Jordan said it would have sole access to the footage.
Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur had on Monday announced his state would not be proceeding with its plan to install the cameras at the site, Judaism's holiest, citing Palestinian "doubts about the aims of the project."
"Because we respect the point of view of the Palestinians... we believe the project is no longer consensual, but a potential source of conflict, and have decided to end it," he said.
Despite being liberated in the 1967 Six Day War the Temple Mount remains under the de facto rule of the Jordanian Waqf, which bans Jewish prayer on the site in a discriminatory demand Israeli police have kowtowed before.