Quiet: Temple Mount Being Lost

From a write-up by Amir Shoan at Ynet:

Is Israel losing Temple Mount war?

Why is Israeli government covering up Muslim effort to erase any trace of Jewish history on Temple Mount? || Archeology expert: Excavations barbaric, a crime

...The tractor's huge blade was lifted high up and then brought down with great force, shattering the ancient floors on Temple Mount. The large clods of earth exposed by the work were cast aside by the mustachioed driver. Yet even an amateur archeologist
could spot the priceless remnants of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history being cast away...According to specific Antiquities Authority instructions, any digging at the site was not allowed to exceed 60 centimeters (roughly two feet) and was not to be undertaken using mechanical equipment...workers largely ignored the instructions.

...Archeology expert Dr. Gabai Barkai, a world-renowned expert on Temple era excavations, was shocked by the reported work: "How could one dig up such sensitive area at night? How could one dig using mechanical equipment? Every such move is a crime. This is first-rate barbarity."

...Information elicited by the newspaper showed that the Waqf is consistently erasing any trace of Jewish history at the site.

Mideastern affairs expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar says these acts are undertaken in the framework of an Arab practice known as "erasing the signs," aimed at eliminating the remnants of any civilization that preceded Islam.

Members of the State Comptroller's Office launched an investigation into the affair four years ago and drafted a report about it. However, the Knesset's State Control Committee decided to impose a gag order on the report for "security reasons."

...Conversations and interviews held with dozens of officials involved in drafting the State Comptroller's secret report indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among the senior officials interested in shelving the document. Attorney Yisrael Caspi, who represents a group fighting the destruction on Temple Mount, says the PM is unequivocally responsible for the ongoing failure.

..."These days too, three tractors are being used on Temple Mount," [Israel] Caspi says. "Construction materials are also continuing to be brought into Temple Mount in violation of police pledges…Temple Mount looks today like a construction materials' warehouse…materials being brought in today will be used for illegal works tomorrow."..."You can't believe these things are happening. We are playing into our enemies' hands and shooting ourselves in the foot, because these generators can provide enough electricity for half the city. Why are they needed?"

After the opening of the Western Wall Tunnels in 1996 and the subsequent riots at the site, then-PM Netanyahu agreed to unilateral Waqf steps in the area...the Islamic body inaugurated the largest mosque in Israel at the large space associated with Solomon's stables, thereby banning Jews from entering the site. Two years later, the Waqf inaugurated another mosque, this time below the al-Aqsa Mosque nearby...Waqf members painted over rare Jewish works at the site. All this work was undertaken without Israeli supervision, and one can only imagine the kinds of cultural, historical and religious treasures lost in the process.

In 1999, the Waqf went a step further and dug a hole in the Temple Mount plaza, arguing that it needed to build an emergency exit for the mosque. The work was done by tractors, with some 250 trucks removing about 12,000 tons of soil replete with archeological findings from the site. The soil was dumped at a city garbage dump and also near the Kidron River.

Archeologists Gabi Barkai and Zachi Zweig are now sifting through [the dump]...[and] found decorated utensils from the King Solomon era, as well as coins and clay dating back to the second Temple. [Dr. Eilat Mazar said] "The Waqf's objective is to not only turn Temple Mount into a holy compound, but to turn it into a 'built up Aqsa' for Muslims only," she says. "One need not be an archeologist to understand there's destruction here."

The Prime Minister's Office issued the following response to the story: "As opposed to the claims, the body that imposed a gag order on the (State Comptroller's) report was not the government, but rather, the sub-committee of the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affair's Committee…any argument alleging that the report is not being published as result of irrelevant reasons is baseless and disconnected from reality."

What the article lacks is a report on the activities of the Islamic Movement - Northern Branch, the activities of Sheikh Raad Salah, the recent riots and the incitement of the PA Mufti which I have dealt with recently.

For example, from when is this headline:

Islamic leader tells Haaretz: Temple Mount clashes won't end until occupation of Jerusalem does

Riots in Jerusalem continue as heads of Hamas and the Islamic Movement call protesters to the site.

October 2009.

When was this announced?

"We remind, for the 1,000th time, that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque, including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Moslem property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it."

"We remind the Israeli establishment, which stands behind these plans, that the problem of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem is not just a Palestinian problem, but a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic problem. The day the Al-Aqsa Mosque is harmed, Heaven forbid, all the Arab and Islamic nations will call to prevent this damage. Watch out! Beware of merely the thought of hurting or desecrating the mosque."

November 2006.

Nothing new under the ... crescent.

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