Jerusalem Excavation Escalation
On my last December Jerusalem day I walked up the bridge from the Western Wall and through Mugrabi Gate onto Al Haram Al Sharif, the Temple Mount.
This is what the scene looks like from a little further out, with the Western Wall to the left of the ramp and the Temple Mount/Haram Al Sharif inside the gate. The trees on top show the mount’s park-like setting for half a dozen mosques.
As I remember the story reported during my trip, the temporary bridge, to the left in the first photo, was built because the ancient ramp on the right had become destabilized by earthquake and snow. Now that the bridge itself was beginning to show signs of collapse, Israeli authorities planned to re-stabilize the original ramp, but before beginning they would excavate to locate and preserve likely archeological treasures.
Muslim authorities have a different explanation, including a fear that the Israeli excavation is but a prelude to destabilizing the Al Aqsa Mosque at the top, part of which is seen through the Mugrabi (Morocco) Gate:
Here in the U.S., unsurprisingly, the media generally dismiss the Muslim argument as exaggerated and irrelevant. That’s the official Israeli view.
Anne Paq, a photojournalist I met in Ramallah who’s now based in Bethlehem, has photos on her blog of the current construction and a description of some of the background rarely noted in the U.S. media. Excerpts:
On Tuesday morning Israeli bulldozers started demolishing the bridge to the Mugrabi (Moroccan) Gate, one of the main entrances to the Al Aqsa Mosque. However, Israeli media is now reporting that the permit issued for the works at the Mugrabi site is deemed illegal due to the failure of excavation directors to submit a more detailed plan. …According to Israeli media, last week Jerusalem Comptroller Shulamit Rubin deemed the permit issued for the works at the Mugrabi site illegal and sent a report to all the relevant municipal bodies…..
This part seems to me ominous:
The Waqf religious trust claims that leveling the mound will threaten the foundation of the entire al-Aqsa compound, which dates back to the 7th century…..The Israeli government had recently decided to demolish the mound, citing the need to build a road for Jewish settlers. Ehud Olmert also recently granted permission for a synagogue to be built only 40-50 meters away from the al-Aqsa mosque, on land that was captured from Palestine in the 1967 war.
Now, if Israel is talking about “demolishing” the mound there’s more at stake than just shoring it up. That would make Palestinian concerns more realistic than some might assume:
In the Palestinian community there are concerns that Israel is using the excavation as a ploy to further their policy of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the ‘67 conflict. The plans to build a synagogue very close to the Al Aqsa mosque are causing people to fear that the whole area will gradually be evicted and reconstructed, forcing even more Palestinians to leave after Israeli authorities demolish their homes.
Interpreting the Israeli plan as part of a larger policy of control is not as far-fetched as some might think — as Anne’s final paragraph makes clear:
According to Israeli media reports, Meir Ben-Dov, an archeologist who has been directing excavation near the Temple Mount for 39 years stated that there is no need for the current extensive works. He criticised the decision to carry out ‘excavation work’ on the Mugrabi Bridge as being “shortsightedness by someone who wants riots, people with no brain.”
The site’s sensitivity makes any effort to proceed unilaterally politically reckless — unless, of course, confrontation is part of the plan.
This final photo, which I took two years ago, shows the scope of the ramp, and how it leans on the wall above which Al Aqsa stands.
I have other photos on top of Haram Al Sharif in my galleries.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
This is the same provocation that the moslems used in the 1920s to cause the massare of the jews living there. It’s a bogus distraction to get the “palestinians” to be angry at Israel while their various factions slaughter each other in the streets of gaza.