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WORLD NEWSFriday 6 November 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Jordan King: No cameras inside
before their meeting at the Government Office in Hanoi Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015. Xi’s meetings in mosques at Jerusalem holy site
Vietnam beginning Thursday follow the communist countries’ efforts to repair ties strained over
disputes in the South China Sea. KARIN LAUB
Associated Press
(Kham/Pool Photo via AP) AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The interiors of two mosques
at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site will be exempt from
Chinese president Xi visits Vietnam to monitoring by security cameras, Jordan’s king said
in an apparent attempt to allay Palestinian con-
discuss stronger regional ties cerns about his plan to install the cameras at the
sprawling hilltop compound.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — try said in a statement. ment and Development of The 37-acre (15 -hectare) site has been at the heart
Leaders of China and Viet- Vietnam. of the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
nam agreed Thursday to Trong told Xi that the two But analysts said Xi’s two- Jordan, the custodian of the site, last month pro-
limit their differences and day visit is unlikely to mark posed camera monitoring in efforts to defuse ten-
maintain peace and stabil- countries should not allow much progress in address- sions. Israel welcomed the plan but the idea was
ity, as the two Communist ing the territorial tensions. met by Palestinian criticism.
neighbors attempt to repair territorial disputes to affect “I personally think it’s dif- Although Israel and Jordan initially said cameras
ties strained over territorial ficult to resolve the issue would be installed within days, the plan now ap-
disputes in the South Chi- their relations, and pro- of territorial disputes when pears delayed, with Jordan’s King Abdullah II saying
na Sea. Vietnam and China still they wouldn’t be in place for some six weeks.
Chinese President Xi Jin- posed that they not take maintain their positions,” “To be very clear, there will be no cameras inside
ping received a rare 21- said Duong Danh Dy, the the mosque,” Abdullah said in remarks broadcast
gun salute before he and any actions that increase former Vietnamese consul on Jordan’s state TV Wednesday evening.
Vietnamese Communist general in Guangzhou, in The fate of the walled compound in Jerusalem —
Party chief Nguyen Phu tensions or the militarization southern China. known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims
Trong headed for talks be- Xinhua said in a commen- as the Noble Sanctuary — is at the heart of the Israe-
hind closed doors. of the South China Sea, the tary that settling their ter- li-Palestinian conflict. It is the holiest site in Judaism
The two leaders agreed to ritorial disputes depends and was home to biblical Jewish Temples. Muslims
promote relations between ministry said. on “the two neighbors’ believe it is the spot where the Prophet Muham-
their countries and the rul- will and ability to properly mad ascended to heaven. It is the third-holiest site
ing Communist parties, Bilateral relations plunged manage their differences,” in Islam and houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and gold-
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry and that they should not topped Dome of the Rock.
said. last year following Chi- allow the outside world to Israeli police and Palestinian protesters often clash
Xi said China will “strive to- interfere. there. The current wave of violence erupted in mid-
gether with Vietnam to well na’s parking of a giant oil Witnesses said about 30 September, fueled by rumors that Israel was trying to
control differences at sea, people protested briefly increase Jewish presence there. Under a decades-
and maintain overall Chi- rig near the disputed Para- in front of the Chinese Em- old arrangement, non-Muslims can visit the site but
na-Vietnam relations and bassy in Hanoi on Thursday are not allowed to pray there.
peace and stability” in the cel islands, which sparked morning before authorities Israel has vehemently denied the allegations, but
South China Sea, the minis- took them away in buses.q Palestinians point to an increase in visits by extremist
deadly anti-Chinese riots Jews backed by hard-line Israeli legislators.
The plan to introduce cameras at the site was sug-
in Vietnam. The two coun- gested by Jordan and announced by U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry during a diplomatic push last
tries have since tried to month to quell the violence.
Israel praised the idea, saying it would help counter
repair ties with high-level the Palestinian claims that it is trying to change the
status quo. But the Palestinians said Israel would use
contacts including a trip by the cameras to spy on and arrest people.
There was no immediate Israeli response to Abdul-
Trong to China last April. lah’s remarks.
Beyond the video surveillance, Kerry last month also
Trong and Xi also witnessed announced other understandings, including Israel
fully respecting Jordan’s “special role” as custodian
the signing of a dozen co- of the site, upholding the ban on non-Muslim prayer
and its commitment not to divide the site and to re-
operation agreements ject any attempt to suggest otherwise.
It was hoped that Jordan’s engagement could go
covering party-to-party a long way in easing the tensions. Israel captured
the holy site from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.q
relations, investment, in-

frastructure, culture and

a $200 million loan from

the China Development

Bank to the Bank of Invest-