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.