They Don't Believe

The BBC's Tim Franks deals with competing narratives.

The first tour I went on was organised by al-Quds University's Centre for Jerusalem Studies. The organiser, Rasmieh Ali Tabaki...

Our Palestinian guide, Said Rabieh, cited descriptions of the Second Temple from ancient Jewish literature, but cautioned: "There is no proof of a temple here. None at all."

Pressed whether he himself believed the Second Temple was on this site, he said, "Maybe… but I don't have archaeological evidence."

Shortly after you enter the tunnel, you walk across thick glass, which has been cut into the stone floor to reveal, deep beneath you, a staircase leading to a carved space in the stone. Said told us that Jewish archaeologists were claiming this to be an ancient "mikveh" (ritual bath).

Said looked profoundly sceptical. "I don't know: you tell me what you think. I don't know how they can be so sure. It's just a space."

Last December they found a half-shekel coin. In February a royal inscription. Last November, an earing. A wall. A bulla. A stone seal. More.