 |
 |
 |
|
|
view of Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Associated Press February 7, 2007 |
|
| |
 Bookmark to del.icio.us |
| |
Two thousand Israeli police were on guard in Jerusalem as Palestinians and leaders of the Arab world hotly protested excavations and repairs in the Old City of Jerusalem near a hotly disputed holy site.
Police restricted worship at the Al Aqsa mosque on Tuesday and kept the limits in force on Wednesday as archaeologists and a bulldozer worked outside the hilltop known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Muslims are angry at Israel's plan to build a new walkway up to the compound where Islamic tradition says Muhammad ascended to heaven and which Jews revere as the site of their two ancient temples. Israel says the project is needed to replace a centuries-old earthen ramp that partially collapsed in a snowstorm three years ago. Its assurances that the work would cause no harm to Islam's holy sites did little to soothe tensions.
"What is happening is an aggression," Mohammed Hussein, the top Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, told the Gaza Strip radio station of the Hamas militant movement. "We call on the Palestinian people to unite and unify the efforts to protect Jerusalem."
The small dig, 50 yards away from the walls of the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City, is meant to ensure that no important artifacts are damaged by the walkway's construction, which is expected to be completed in eight months. Such exploratory digs are required by Israeli law in the ancient city.
"The construction of the bridge, located in its entirety outside the Temple Mount, has no impact on the Mount itself and certainly poses no danger to it," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said.
"There is nothing on earth that can cause damage to the walls of the Temple Mount, and certainly not to any structures inside," said Gideon Avni, the archaeologist in charge of excavations and surveys at the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
Preparatory work has been under way for weeks, Avni said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni charged Sunday that radicals "exploit every opportunity to stir up the most extreme emotions. Some of them make political use of it."
On Tuesday, the first day that workers began dismantling the original earth ramp, security forces were on high alert. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that 2,000 police were stationed around the Old City and east Jerusalem, more than double the routine deployment. Police also restricted access for Muslim men to Israeli Arabs and east Jerusalem residents over the age of 45.
Jerusalem police said Tuesday's security measures and restrictions would still be in effect on Wednesday.
Palestinian protesters threw stones at police in three areas of Jerusalem, causing no injuries, police said. But work near the holy site got under way with no disturbances. Most onlookers were journalists and police.
Several Palestinian men gathered nearby, watching the bulldozer.
"Every stone they make fall from its place is a part of my soul," said Nidal Abu Shaha, 41. "Every part of Al Aqsa is holy, including this ramp."
Jordan's King Abdullah II called the Israeli dig "a threat to the foundations of the Al Aqsa mosque," according to a statement from the royal palace. Israel has controlled the compound since 1967, when it captured east Jerusalem from Jordan, but has left its administration largely in the hands of Jordan and the Palestinians.
The compound is home to Al Aqsa mosque and the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine, as well as to the original retaining walls of the second Jewish temple, including the Jewish shrine called the Western Wall.
When Israel opened a tunnel alongside the compound in 1996, it sparked clashes that killed 80 people. In 2000, when then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the site, the ensuing riots were followed by years of violence.
Palestinian society is currently riven by fighting between the rival Hamas and Fatah, which has claimed over 130 lives since May. But the Palestinian factions put aside the internal conflict and joined together to condemn Israel.
"The continued Israeli aggression on Al Aqsa mosque and Jerusalem require all Palestinians to unite and remember that our battle is with the occupation," said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. He spoke as he departed for Saudi Arabia for reconciliation talks with President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
Abbas issued a statement calling the Israeli project "a stumbling block on the way to peace."
Adnan Husseini, the director of the Islamic Waqf, the trust that oversees the complex's Muslim sites, said he was concerned the new walkway could damage the original earthen ramp, which he said was Waqf property and contained ruins of archaeological significance. The new construction constituted a violation of the site, he said.
"This is a very dangerous project that will damage things of great historical value in this very sensitive place," Husseini said.
The Waqf has carried out its own controversial work at the site. In 1999, the Islamic organization opened a new exit to a chamber underneath the compound's surface, and workers removed dozens of truckloads of rubble, drawing charges from Israeli archaeologists that the Waqf was destroying antiquities and violating the site's fragile status quo. |
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
