New attacks as bid to ease tensions over Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa stumbles

Efforts to douse Israeli-Palestinian tensions over Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound by installing cameras at the site ran into trouble Monday, as more knife attacks against Israelis saw two Palestinians shot dead.

 Israel on Saturday agreed to install surveillance cameras at the highly sensitive holy site after an intense diplomatic drive to calm spiralling violence that many fear heralds a new Palestinian intifada.

 However the Jordanian-run trust which administers the site, known as the Waqf, complained that when its officials showed up to install the cameras, they were blocked by Israeli police, accusing the Jewish state of "interference".

 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that arrangements to install the cameras "were supposed to be coordinated at the professional level".

 The dispute highlighted the tensions over the site which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has been a crucible of discord in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 The latest violence flared in September as Muslims protested an increase in Jewish visitors to Al-Aqsa, fuelling long-running fears Israel wanted to change the rules governing the compound allowing Jews to visit, but not to pray there.

 This spiralled into a series of knife attacks and shootings by young Palestinians that has left eight Israelis dead since October 1.

 On Monday a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier in the neck in the southern West Bank before being shot dead by soldiers, the army said.

 Meanwhile in the flashpoint city of Hebron a 19-year-old Palestinian allegedly tried to stab a soldier, and was shot dead, the army said.

 Monday's attacks took the number of Palestinians killed in attempted attacks and clashes to 55. An Israeli Arab attacker has also been killed.