Posted on 02/13/2007 4:58:17 PM PST by SJackson
An archaeologist from the Antiquities Authority said Tuesday that the dig underway at the site of the Rambam (Mughrabim) Gate bridge is yielding finds from multiple historical periods.
The archaeologist, Yuval Baruch, expressed his estimation of the value of the preservation dig to a delegation of Knesset members from the National Union-National Religious Party faction. The MKs were on a tour of the site of the archaeological dig, which is being carried out alongside the women's section of the Western Wall Plaza.
Digs initiated by the Antiquities Authority at the site have already turned up ruins from the Muslim Umayyad (7th-8th centuries CE), Christian Byzantine (3rd-7th centuries CE), and Jewish Herodian (1st Century BCE – 1st Century CE) periods.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority is conducting the dig as part of the reconstruction of a bridge leading up to the Temple Mount's Rambam Gate. The dig, common to any major construction in the ancient city of Jerusalem, is meant to uncover and salvage antiquities that might otherwise have been further covered or destroyed by the construction work. Baruch emphasized that any finds, from any ancient historical period will be treated with care and preserved.
The archaeologist told the MKs that a small earthquake and heavy snows in 2004 led to the collapse of the Rambam Gate bridge, an earthen ramp up to the Temple Mount, on its northern side. That collapse, Baruch said, constituted an immediate threat to people at the Western Wall. Therefore, the reparations and reconstruction currently underway serve to protect Jewish worshipers at the Mount's base, as well as to build a safer bridge up to the Mount itself. In the meantime, the women's section of the Western Wall has been severely restricted by the need for extensive retaining walls and support beams to protect the worshipers there.
The construction and archaeological dig in the Western Wall area have been seized upon for widespread incitement by Muslim leaders throughout the world, who are spreading rumors to the effect that the Jewish State is undermining the mosques on the Temple Mount. In Jerusalem, violence by Arabs led to the suspension of the bridge construction by Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski. The archaeological dig will continue, however.
Nissim Arazi, director of the Jewish Quarter Development Company, has stated that his company decided to abandon plans to build the new walkway from the Western Wall Plaza to the Temple Mount. Alternative solutions will be sought to repair or replace the bridge that collapsed during the 2004 snowstorm.
Chairman of the National Union-NRP Knesset faction, Uri Ariel, commented to the press that "the Arabs apparently fear that Jewish remains will be found in the excavations, which will strengthen, in the eyes of Israeli society and in the eyes of the world, the Jewish people's connection to its land."
Ariel also chastised sectors of the Israeli Arab community, saying that their provocations and violence amount to the behavior of a fifth column. On Monday, MK Ariel initiated a debate in the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee on the behavior of the Islamic Movement's leaders in inciting violence over the Rambam Gate construction.
MK Eli Gabbay (NU-NRP), a former Jerusalem city councilman, said, "The State of Israel must not give in to hostile elements. Every submission to an Islamic provocation brings about further submissions and extortion. The State of Israel must defend the Israeli interest in the Temple Mount."
The Temple Mount, the site of the two historical Temples dedicated to worship of the God of Israel, is the holiest site in Judaism and has been the focus of all Jewish prayer worldwide for thousands of years. Muslim rulers built two major mosques atop the Mount during periods of Islamic conquest. Even though the Mount was brought under Jewish sovereignty in the 1967 Six Day War, the sole religious authority at the site, with Israeli assent, has been Muslim.
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The cause of the rioting.
Which of course is the reason why the Muslims don't want it done, correct?
Check this out.....
"Digs initiated by the Antiquities Authority at the site have already turned up ruins from the Muslim Umayyad (7th-8th centuries CE), Christian Byzantine (3rd-7th centuries CE), and Jewish Herodian (1st Century BCE – 1st Century CE) periods."
Of course Jews and Christians were there before - they were there centuries before the Satan-based pseudo-religion called Islam came through and built their own temple to the Devil on the EXACT location of the Jewish Temple...
It's kinda strange. To those with their "heads screwed on straight" there is no question that the Jews were there long before the Muslims. What did Titus of Rome do in 70 AD? The point I believe is that existing proof is never good enough and never will be for the Muslims. They act like they own the place. They are keeping it through intimidation.
I deem it remarkable that any Jew today, 2007, living in Israel, his country and his homeland, still harbors enough doubts about his legacy even to entertain the notion that "validation" is necessary...
Two temples? What about the temple rebuilt by Ezra? Is Herod's temple considered just a remodeling and enlargement of Ezra's?
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
That drive Muslums nut ROFL
check this out
Bracing for the usual crowd who freak out over the use of CE and BCE.
That could be worth 20 or 30 posts.
Yes.
"Bracing for the usual crowd who freak out over the use of CE and BCE."
What's to freak out about?
CE and BCE are simply the athiest/liberal/non-traditional way to say AD and BC.
Each publisher can call it like he sees it.
That's what I was thinking also. They've (the Muslims)always been jealous; that's all.
I still don't get why they prefer this anyway because I actually refer to it as Christian Era and Before Christian Era (he he). Christ gets in either way; they (the secularists) just don't realize it.
well, well, well...
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