Originally Published in Biblical Archaeology Magazine Website.

New Temple Mount Furor —And What You Can Do about It Suzanne F. Singer

Illegal construction on the Temple Mount has uncovered ancient remains such as these columns, but Muslim religious authorities have barred Israeli archaeologists from studying them. (Photo courtesy of Zachi Zweig) Prominent Israelis from across the political spectrum are strongly protesting a new round of construction activity on the Temple Mount that is destroying ancient remains. Among the 140 outraged citizens who signed a public appeal are current and former Jerusalem mayors Ehud Olmert and Teddy Kollek, 82 members of Israel's parliament, Amos Oz and other well-known authors, former Army chiefs-of-staff, presidents of universities, professors of archaeology and members of Israel's law faculties.      They are responding to the round-the-clock procession of trucks that has been moving on and off the Temple Mount, the great platform in Jerusalem's Old City built by King Herod 2,000 years ago on which stood the Second Temple and, before that, the Temple of Solomon. The trucks carry building materials and cart off earth dug from the Mount itself. All this is happening under the direction of the Waqf, the Muslim religious authority in charge of the Mount, but without any archaeological supervision.      Building stones, lumber and iron are stacked for 200 yards along the inside of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The construction materials are piled all the way from a newly-opened emergency exit to the underground mosque in the area popularly known as Solomon's Stables—an opening dug in the dead of night last winter, also without archaeological supervision—to just before the Golden Gate. Two new brick structures, said to be storage sheds for construction materials, have recently gone up near the Golden Gate within the Temple Mount wall. Work last winter at this entrance to an underground mosque on the Temple Mount prompted an outcry against destruction of antiquities. A second round of construction nearby has led to renewed protests. (Photo courtesy of Zachi Zweig)      Nadav Shragai reported in Ha'aretz, Israel's leading newspaper, on June 18 that "The most disturbing information concerns a master plan [of the Waqf and the Israeli Islamic Movement] to erect yet a fourth mosque on the Temple Mount, along the eastern wall, a smaller version of the Ka'aba Mosque in Mecca."      Israeli police and antiquities officials, who have nominal authority over the Temple Mount, have not prevented the construction activity in the area, which inevitably leads to the destruction of archaeological remains. They were similarly passive last winter when hundreds of truckloads of earth excavated during the construction of the emergency exit for the Solomon's Stables mosque were dumped along the Kidron Valley and in municipal dumps.      Israeli officials with responsibility to act are waiting for Prime Minister Ehud Barak to order the Waqf to cease the building activity or to at least submit to archaeological supervision. Barak has yet to do so, either because he is preoccupied with negotiations with the Palestinians and/or because he fears an outbreak of Muslim violence should he attempt to block the Waqf's work. In the meantime precious historical remains—fragments of pottery, architecture, coins and seals—have been cast away in bulldozed earth dumped onto garbage heaps. If building continues on the Mount, more remnants of Jerusalem's ancient history will be lost.      For the moment there is total paralysis. The Police Commissioner, the Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, the Minister for Internal Security, the Attorney General, the Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority—all have been unwilling to demand that the Waqf obey the planning, construction and antiquities laws of the State of Israel.      International outrage can help demonstrate to Prime Minister Barak and other Israeli officials that they must act. The destruction on the Temple Mount can be stopped simply by closing Lion's Gate, just north of the Mount, to truck traffic. An understanding must be worked out with the Waqf under which construction will not resume except under archaeological supervision.      The history of ancient Jerusalem belongs to the world—to Christians, to Muslims, to Jews and to everyone concerned with the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem who left remnants of their existence in the soil of the Temple Mount.      Add your voice to the protest against the destruction on the Temple Mount. An online petition can be found at http://www.echad.info/templemount. —Suzanne F. Singer in Jerusalem