Waqf Excavations on the Temple Mount
In 1996, then-Prime Minister Netanyahu authorized the Muslim Waqf to take unilateral initiatives on the Temple Mount, as a goodwill gesture after the embarrassment caused by the mismanagement of riots following the opening of the Western Wall Tunnels, during which 14 Israeli soldiers and 69 Palestinians were killed.
Two months later the Waqf created a mosque on the Temple Mount at the site of the SolomonÂ’s Stables, then another one at the Western Hulda Gate and the rubbles were dumped into the Kidron valley. In 1999, the Waqf created an emergency exit for the mosques, removing 12,000 tons of rubbles potentially containing unchecked archeological pieces. More unchecked excavations done with heavy motorized equipment continued until 2007.
During the Emek Shaveh tour, we were explained that the sifting of the Temple Mount rubbles carried out in the Tzurim valley by archeologists Gabi Barkai and Zachi Zweig was of no archeological value because it was impossible to tell which layer in the original structure any finding belongs to. To illustrate the absurdity of the sifting project, the guide invited us to throw into the unattended pile of rubbles object from our pockets.
Dr. Eilat Mazar, the archeologist who claimed in 2005 that she had found the remains of 10th Century BC King DavidÂ’s Palace, and member of the Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, voiced in 2007 a complaint to the Waqf for the digging of a ditch on the northern side, using tractors and without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision, calling it an ongoing contempt for the tremendous archaeological importance of the Temple Mount. Mark Ami-El of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) accuses the Waqf of working diligently to erase and destroy every archeological remnant and finding that may testify to any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. The Waqf intention, he says, is to change the status quo of the place by turning all the areas of the Mount into Muslim holy places, mosques, and prayer areas, preventing any Jewish presence whatsoever in the future. 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.
