Al Aqsa cameras to connect Muslims around world with worshippers — Momani

AMMAN — Installing surveillance cameras in Al Aqsa Mosque will enable 1.7 billion Muslims around the world to stay in touch with the worshippers praying there, Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani said Wednesday. 

This will strengthen Muslims’ awareness of what is going on at the mosque complex and the challenges facing its worshippers, Momani, who is also the minister of state for media affairs and communications, said in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.  

The cameras will record extremists’ raids on the mosque, thus putting a stop to them, he said.

Moreover, installing the cameras will refute the Israeli forces’ claims that “Palestinian riots” are the reason behind their “provocative interference” in the affairs of the mosque, which will all be captured for the whole world to see that Israel is violating the status quo under false pretences.

These recorded videos will help Jordan and Palestine present documented proof to defend Al Aqsa legally on international platforms and through diplomatic channels, enhancing the Kingdom’s protection of the mosque, worshippers, the Awqaf Department’s staff.

Late last year, His Majesty King Abdullah received a delegation comprising representatives of the Jerusalem Awqaf Department, clerics, and Muslim and Christian Jerusalemites. 

The King asserted that Jordan stands firm and rejects any changes to the historic status quo at Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, which extends over an area of 144 dunums.

The King asserted that the surveillance camera project is a Jordanian initiative that will be carried out by the Awqaf Ministry, in cooperation with “our Palestinian brothers” on the ground.