Leading Israelis protest against Temple Mount construction

By Nadav Shragai
Ha'aretz Correspondent

Public figures, intellectuals and archaeologists sent a sharp letter of protest to Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the weekend, condemning what they say are serious violations by the Waqf on the Temple Mount site that endanger important archaeological evidence.

The letter notes that in recent weeks more than 1500 tons of rubble was removed from the site by tractors and loaded on to trucks to be dumped at undisclosed sites.

The signatories - including authors A.B. Yehoshua, Haim Guri and S. Izhar, plus some of the most senior archaeologists in Israel - say the dumping is going on without any supervision by the Authority of Antiquities or the state.

Experts following the work the Waqf is engaged in say that there is no control over the areas or the depths from which soil is being excavated.

The group says that in addition to other serious violations of the permits for development granted to the Waqf, a tractor fitted with a rock-breaking hammer has been used on the Temple Mount for the first time.

The authors of the letter are critical of the authorities failure and they note the construction work at the Temple Mount is being done with the tacit approval of prime minister.

"It is unacceptable that in a culturally enlightened and law abiding country someone can authorize such a serious crime, of such enormous proportions, to carry on for more than a year. This is what has been going on at the Temple Mount for the past 15 months, causing unprecedented damage to the most important archaeological site in the country, and causing irreparable damage to rare archaeological evidence ... at one of the rarest cultural legacies in the world."

The signatories also add that "senior security sources" told them the purpose of the work the Waqf is doing is to build more mosques on every available space of the Temple Mount, thus turning the area into one enormous mosque that would preclude any Jewish presence at the site.

The group which watches developments at the Temple Mount said this is a similar project to the building of two underground mosques in the area known as "Solomon's Stables.