12.12.00
Mr. Ehud Barak
Prime Minister of Israel
Urgent
Dear Prime Minister,
Re: Demand for the immediate
cessation of illegal work being carried out on a large scale on the Temple
Mount, and which is causing grave damage to the antiquities of the Temple
Mount, and which is being executed without the supervision of the Antiquities
Authority.
1.
About 10 days ago we
were amazed to see that extensive building work had been renewed on the Temple
Mount. The work includes extensive earth works, excavation using a tractor,
paving of large areas, and construction work.
2.
Furthermore, tens of trucks are
currently entering with building and paving materials, including large
quantities of bedding material for paving, paving stones, blocks, cement, and
other materials. At the same time, tens of trucks are leaving the Temple Mount carrying hundreds of
tons of earth and waste, full of archeological findings from all the periods,
and in this way causing grave damage to the existing archeological texture,
without any supervision.
3.
All the above activities are being made following your decision and
approval, despite the opposition of senior government functions who are
responsible for these matters, including the Antiquities
Authority,
the Legal Advisor to the Government, and the Jerusalem Municipality. The
activities are being made without supervision on the Temple Mount by personnel
of the Antiquities Authority, who have not been
allowed to enter the Mount since the commencement of the bloodshed at the end
of September.
4.
These activities represent grave violations of the laws of the country,
including the Antiquities Law and the Planning and
Construction Law, and violation of the agreements and promises formulated
during the year following our forceful demands to halt the systematic
destruction of activities carried out by the Moslem Wakf over the course of the
year.
5.
Yesterday, during the hours of darkness, a
mechanical vehicle/ equipment, including a mechanical hammer for breaking
rocks, was brought into the Temple Mount. This was the first time such
equipment was brought into the Temple Mount, since in the past it had not been
permitted to use such equipment because of its power and its capability of
damaging and significantly changing the rock and the structure of the Mount,
including destruction of massive antiquities, such as walls and buildings. We
are apprehensive of the results of such an operation involving speedy and
extensive destruction, such as was done exactly one year ago by three tractors,
which continuously for three days excavated a tremendous pit of area 2,000 m2
and depth of 12m, while causing tremendous and unprecedented damage to the
Temple Mount. On that occasion 12,000 tons of earth, containing numerous
archeological findings from the periods of the First and Second Temples, were
dumped on the Jerusalem rubbish dump.
6.
The work being carried out causes serious and
irreversible damage to the most important archeological site in Israel, which
is of paramount importance to the Jewish people. This is intolerable damage to
values of science, culture, and archeology, of world importance.
7.
Your clear and unambiguous position during the
Camp David talks regarding the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jewish
people, and the obligation to preserve it because of its importance and
holiness, does not conform with the consent that you give, time after time, to
continue the destructive and illegal work on the Temple Mount. You are
obligated to preserve the Temple Mount in a practical and real way, and not
just by using words that fail to relate to the actual deeds being done in
practice.
8.
We demand that you immediately halt the work
being carried out, remove the heavy equipment including the mechanical hammer
for stone breaking and the large tractor from the area of the Temple Mount, and
make any action performed on the Temple Mount conditional on close
supervision by personnel of the Antiquities Authority and receipt of precise,
detailed prior approval by all the government functions responsible for the
matter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gabi Barkai
Dr. Shmuel Berkovitz, lawyer
Israel Caspi, lawyer
Dr. Eilat Mazar
Dr. Orit Zur
Prof. Amos Kloner
The committee for the
prevention of destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount
54, Rabbi Akiva St., Herzliya