[CPProt.net] Israel denies Temple Mount excavation

[Museum Security and Cultural Property Protection (Ton Cremers)]

Israel denies Temple Mount excavation


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Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST  Jan. 3, 2006 

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Israel dismissed as "blatant lies" and "preposterous and unfounded
allegations" claims voiced by the top Muslim religious authority in
Jerusalem and the firebrand leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel Tuesday
that Israel built a synagogue and was trying to destroy a mosque on the
Temple Mount by its recently-completed construction of a visitor's center
near the Western Wall. 

Islamic leaders have been fuming for weeks now over Israel's recent
construction of the visitor's center, adjacent to the Western Wall tunnels,
angered over the project which highlights Judaism's connection to Jerusalem
and the Western Wall. 

The lavish new state of the art tourist center at the Western Wall tunnels
incorporates ancient and modern Jewish history and includes an elaborate
sound and light show that highlight both recent discoveries of artifacts and
infrastructure dating back thousands of years. 

The high-tech center, which aims to link the past with the future in an
effort to reach out to Israeli youth, includes one of the world's oldest
aqueducts, a ritual bath from the Second Temple period, a First Temple wall,
as well as exhibits on modern day Jewish history, such as the Holocaust and
Israel's fallen soldiers. 

The top Muslim clergyman, or mufti, of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, on Tuesday
called the archaeological project an "aggression" that threatened the mosque
compound and demanded an immediate end to the digs. 

"These violations and aggression lead to tension in the region," he said at
a Jerusalem press conference. 

Sheik Raed Salah, a radical leader of Israel's Islamic Movement, who was
freed from prison last year after serving a two year sentence for a series
of security offenses including financing Hamas activities called the
construction a "black stain" on Israel and accused the government of
plotting to destroy the mosques to build a new temple. 

Salah who heads the extremist northern branch of the Islamic Movement of
Israeli Arabs which denies Israel's legitimacy has repeatedly warned
supporters in the past that "Al-Aksa is in danger" and that Israeli
extremists intended to attack the mosque at the Jerusalem holy site. 

"These are lies, and there is nothing behind what they are saying," Western
Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said Tuesday. 

"Archaeological excavations have never been carried out, and are not being
carried out today, under the Temple Mount compound," Israel's Antiquities
Authority said in a statement. 

Though nearby, the visitor's center is hundreds of meters away from the
Temple Mount compound. 

The Islamic leaders' tirade comes just weeks after the Palestinian
Authority's official website lambasted the construction project in a report
that called into question Judaism's very connection to Jerusalem.