Temple Mount cable replacement controversy

The Temple Mount cable replacement controversy began in July 2007 when the Waqf Muslim religious trust which administers the Temple Mount began digging a 400-metre-long, 1.5-metre-deep trench cite web
url = http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123622
title = Silence in the Face of Continued Temple Mount Destruction
accessdate = 2007-09-07
last = Fendel
first = Hillel
date = September 9, 2007
publisher = Arutz Sheva] from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock cite web
url = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/880761.html
title = Waqf Temple Mount excavation raises archaeologists' protests
accessdate = 2007-07-11
last = Rapoport
first = Meron
date = July 7, 2007
publisher = Haaretz] in order to replace 40-year-old cite web
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6887208,00.html
title = Jerusalem Holy Site Dig Questioned
accessdate = 2007-09-07
last = Teible
first = Amy
date = August 31, 2007
publisher = The Guardian] electric cables in the area.

The site is one of the most contested religious sites in the world. Archaeological finds show that the remains of the temples are beneath the mosque compound. cite web
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6884099,00.html
title = Dig at Jerusalem Site Brings Ire
accessdate = 2007-09-07
last = El Deeb
first = Sarah
date = August 29, 2007
publisher = The Guardian]

The dig, carried out by the Jerusalem Electricity Company, was approved by the Israeli police, but the Israel Antiquities Authority declined to comment whether it had approved the excavations.

View of Israeli archaeologists

The Waqf has been accused of a deliberate act of cultural vandalism. The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount criticized the use of a tractor for excavation at the Temple Mount "without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision involving meticulous documentation".

Archaeologist Eilat Mazar said: “There is disappointment at the turning of a blind eye and the ongoing contempt for the tremendous archaeological importance of the Temple Mount…” “…Using heavy machinery and with little documentation, can damage ancient relics and erase evidence of the presence of the biblical structures. Any excavation, even if for technical reasons, must be documented, photographed and the dirt sifted for any remains of relics.”

Dr Gavriel Barkai slammed the way the excavations were being carried out stating that “They should be using a toothbrush, not a bulldozer”. cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6967457.stm
title = Israeli anger over holy site work
accessdate = 2007-09-07
last = Asser
first = Martin
date = August 28, 2007
publisher = BBC] He maintains that “some man-worked stones have been found in the trench…as well as remnants of a wall that, according to all our estimations, are from a structure in one of the outer courtyards in the Holy Temple.”

Archaeologist Zachi Zweig said a tractor used to dig the trench damaged the foundation of a 7-yard-wide wall "that might have been a remnant of the Second Temple."

View of the Waqf

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Ahmad Hussein rejected the Israeli charges. "We don't harm the antiquities, we are the ones who are taking care of the antiquities, unlike others who destroy them.”

Yusuf Natsheh of the Islamic Waqf dismissed the claims, saying “the area has been dug many times” and argued that “remains unearthed would be from the 16th or 17th century Ottoman period”. He said that the work was urgently needed to maintain the al-Aqsa compound as an important religious institution. “We regret some Israeli groups try to use archaeology to achieve political ends, but their rules of archaeology do not apply to the Haram; it is a living religious site in an occupied land.”

Access to TV crew denied

Waqf guards backed up by the Israeli police have been reported to prevent media from reaching the site. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute reported that his camera was confiscated before he was allowed to visit the site. Richman charged the Waqf with "trying to erase Jewish vestiges from the Temple Mount."

References

External links

* [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123042 Photos: Unsupervised Islamic Digging on Temple Mount, Arutz Sheva]
* [http://www.echad.info/bait/new_ditchE28-08-07.htm New, very long trench to the North and East of the Dome of the Rock plateau]
* [http://www.har-habayt.org/whats.html Architectural Elements and Stratified Layers Were Seen in Several Spots in Trench Cross-Sections]
* [http://www.har-habayt.org/jpost14-07-07.htm Temple Mount travesty, Jerusalem Post]