Knesset Committee Hears of Moslem Plan To "Upgrade" Temple
Mount Sanctity
The Knesset Education Committee held a comprehensive
hearing today on the damage that the Moslem Waqf continues to cause to precious
Jewish antiquities on and under the Temple Mount. The Waqf is working to build
a new mosque in underground chambers of the Mount, and antiquities found in
ancient water cisterns there are destroyed in the process.
What is the procedure for monitoring archaeological work on
the Mount? The Antiquities Authority is the responsible body, but it has not
visited the site since Sept. 2000. Instead, it is the police who report to both
the Authority and the government about the goings-on there. Although the
Committee for the Prevention of the Destruction of Temple Mount Antiquities
says that it has clear proof of destruction caused by the Waqf, it says that
its reports to the police are consistently ignored. The referee in this melee,
Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, sides with the police - who tell him that
the Waqf is causing no damage: "I have all the reasons to believe that the
information I receive from the police is trustworthy." Police protection
of the site *has* increased since Landau assumed his position, and the heavy
earth-moving works and truck traffic to the Mount have almost totally stopped.
Dr. Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist of the Committee, says that
the Moslems' goal is even more grandiose than merely building a mosque or even
destroying evidence of the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. She told Seri
that the Arab press is full of reports that the plan is to bring "holy
water" from Mecca to the Temple Mount cisterns, thus "upgrading"
the status of the Temple Mount in Moslem eyes and obviating the need for Moslem
worshippers to go to Mecca; they will obtain the same spiritual
"value" by visiting the Temple Mount.
Meanwhile, the Temple Mount Faithful petitioned the Supreme
Court today, demanding to be allowed to conduct a ceremony on the upcoming Chanukah
holiday at the foot of the Temple Mount. The police refuse to grant a permit
for the ceremony, and also forbid the members to blow a shofar near the
Mughrabi Gate on the Western Wall.