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Members of the
Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities petitioned
the High Court of Justice yesterday to stop an excavation by the Waqf, or
Muslim religious trust, on the Temple
Mount.
Waqf officials say the digging of the trench, 500 meters long and 1.5 meters deep, is
necessary to replace 40-year-old electric cables. But the petitioners say the
work "is causing irreversible damage to antiquities and archaeological
artifacts of the greatest importance, and is being carried out illegally,
without the requisite authorizations."
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The petition, against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
other cabinet ministers and the Israel Antiquities Authority, maintains that Temple courtyards were
located where the dig is taking place, and that some 400 tons of dirt removed
in the process contain priceless archaeological artifacts from various
periods.
"The excavations were carried out in an area where the bedrock is
sometimes at a depth of only half a meter," the petition stated.
"Therefore, massive digging to a depth of a meter and a half entails damage
to ground layers, some of which may have been in place since the first Temple stood there
3,000 years ago. Excavating with heavy equipment and tractors severely
damaged the ground and directly caused the destruction of ancient stones and
other artifacts."
The petitioners charged that law enforcement authorities are failing to meet
their obligation to uphold the Antiquities Law on the Temple Mount.
The petition was signed by author A. B. Yehoshua;
former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat; Malcolm Hoenlein,
executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations; prominent archaeologists Ephraim Stern, Amihay Mazar, Ehud Netzer, Israel Finkelstein,
Moshe Kochavi,
Gabriel Barkai and Eilat Mazar;
retired Israel Defense Forces generals Zvi Zamir,
Yitzhak Hofi and Giora Eiland; attorney Shmuel Berkovitz; and The Jerusalem Post, which also claimed
that the Mount is closed to media coverage.
An IAA official said yesterday that its policy on Temple Mount
excavations "is subordinate to the government." A political source
said the Waqf's work was authorized by the police
and the IAA.
Waqf officials termed the committee's charges "propaganda" and
repeated their position that the biblical Temple was never located in the area known
to Muslims as the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
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