Wall Shifts at Jerusalem Holy site

AP ^ | August 27, 2002 | Steve Weizman

[Tancred]

Wall Shifts at Jerusalem Holy site Tue Aug 27, 7:19 AM ET

By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Part of the wall of Jerusalem's most hotly contested holy site is in danger of collapse, the city's Israeli mayor and archaeologists said Tuesday.

Muslim officials in charge of the site insisted the wall lining the Al Aqsa Mosque compound is stable. They accused Israel of exploiting the situation to try to increase its supervision of the site, a political flashpoint revered by Muslims and Jews.

"There are serious grounds for the apprehension that it could collapse," Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio Tuesday. "In my view we have reached the moment of truth."

The 35-foot-wide bulge is in the wall holding up the southeastern corner of the mosque compound, built on the site of the biblical Jewish Temples. The raised mosque platform is known to Israelis as the Temple Mount. Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall, a retaining wall of the Temple, is not affected by the bulge.

Eilat Mazar, head of Israel's Public Committee for the Protection of the Antiquities on the Temple Mount said the wall has deteriorated beyond repair.

"The wall will collapse," she told Israel Radio. "The central issue at present is whether it will collapse on the heads of thousands of people who are praying there, or whether it will be done in a controlled manner as it should be done."

Adnan Husseini, director of the Muslim trust which supervises the mosque complex, said the bulge has not grown or shifted for about 30 years and poses no immediate threat.

"This bulge is under our monitoring since the 70s," he told The Associated Press. "It is stable, we don't feel that there is any dangerous situation."

[katana]

"The wall will collapse," she told Israel Radio. "The central issue at present is whether it will collapse on the heads of thousands of people who are praying there, or whether it will be done in a controlled manner as it should be done."

Take your pick, either way works for me.

[rdb3]

Take your pick, either way works for me.

That's sick.

[xJones]

I've read reports, some on FR, that the Muslims have been doing so much excavation under Al Aqsa, that the whole building might be endangered.

[xJones]

Boy, do I need coffee, my grammar is terrible this morning.

[katana]

No, the cold blooded murder of 3,000 civilians followed by street dancing is sick. A building dedicated to a satanic cult on the same site as the Temple of Solomon is sick. I hope the mosque just falls down. But if it takes a few thousand Muslims with it I for one will shed no tears. If you think that's sick, so be it. For me the bastards are and will remain unforgiven.

[SJackson]

Archaeologist Warns Gov't Against Temple Mount Inaction 7,14,02

Dr. Eilat Mazar, an active member of the Committee Against the Destruction of Temple Mount Artifacts, has been outspoken against the Moslem Waqf's attempted destruction of Jewish history at Judaism's holy site, the Temple Mount. She apprised Arutz-7's Ariel Aviv of the situation at present:

"The large-scale destruction of artifacts has stopped, and the trucks have stopped carting away tons of valuable debris, but the situation is still bad: There is no supervision whatsoever on the Temple Mount. We have no way of knowing what is going on underground in the large caverns, where the Waqf had been making preparations to build and make major changes... We do see that the Southern Wall is beginning to buckle because of the changes they are making. It used to be that we had to stand from the side to see it, now everyone can see the wall's 'belly' from the front, and nothing is being done about it. The Israeli authorities can't go in, no non-Moslems can go in, no supervisors, nothing... The Sharon Government has decided to ignore the matter, despite the critical importance of what is going on there. Only the police are allowed in... A catastrophe can happen, and then we'll be blamed - and maybe justifiably so, since we are doing nothing to stop it...

"The Arab press is full of lies denying Judaism's claim to the Temple Mount. They say it is an ancient mosque - not from the times of Abraham, but from the times of Adam and Eve! I did not make that up, that's what they say. Their stated goal is to turn the entire Temple Mount compound - all 144 dunams [about 36 acres] - into an active mosque that no one can fight against. And they are doing so, and no one is stopping it; new mosques have already been built there… From my work in the nearby City of David and the vicinity, I am certain that remnants of the First and Second Temples, and of other periods, are found there under the Temple Mount - yet the Moslems took out 20,000 tons of excavations from there [last year] and threw it in the garbage! This has stopped of late, but the government absolutely must take action to preserve this site."

[SJackson]

No, the cold blooded murder of 3,000 civilians followed by street dancing is sick. A building dedicated to a satanic cult on the same site as the Temple of Solomon is sick. I hope the mosque just falls down. But if it takes a few thousand Muslims with it I for one will shed no tears. If you think that's sick, so be it. For me the bastards are and will remain unforgiven.

Just to clarify the situation for you, it's the wall that's expected to collapse, not the Al Asqua mosque. The author is concerned about the Jews who will be killed during prayers, not Muslims, they'll be fine. Al Asqua is expected to be fine too, though the Waqf has indicated if it is damaged it's Israel's fault.

Actually they've been excavating with the destruction of the wall, along with the destruction of artifacts, as an objective for several years. Essentially, the Palestinians are given free reign by Israel to excavate and "remodel" the Temple Mount.

[cookcounty]

To clarify the clarification: "The Wall" in question is NOT the "Western Wall" ("wailing wall," or the "Kotel"), it is the Southern Wall, which, like the western wall, is a retaining wall supporting the flat "table-top" of the Temple Mount (Or "Haram al-Sherif," as the muslims refer to it).

Jews do not worship at the southern wall, but rather at the western wall. The large Al-Aqsa mosque (not to be confused with the Dome of the Rock, further north on the Temple mount), directly abuts the top of the southern wall, and thus would collapse if the southern wall collapsed. Hopefully there would be enough warning so those inside could escape.

One DOES have to wonder what might happen in the wake of such a catastrophe. If past tendencies to irrationalism are any guide, the Arab press would probably claim Israeli sabotage and call for a further round of violence.

[cookcounty]

The "Southern Wall" in New Testament times:

In Jesus' day, the walled city of Jerusalem extended further south than it does today, encompassing the "city of David," which today is roughly in the area of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. The southern Temple Wall contained the primary entrance to the Temple mount. It featured two gates, embedded in the wall, through which stairways passed, exiting above in the Temple courtyard. It's believed one gate was for the "Up staircase', the other for the "down" staircase.

I spent an afternoon on the Temple Mount in 1997, when it was still open to non-muslims. Now, its access is much more tightly curtailed by the Waqf. This access issue plays large in the beginning of the current "intifada" because of Ariel Sharon's visit, with bodyguards, set off huge howls of protests by muslims. Unfortunately, while it may be true that many Christians and Jews are not well informed about Islam, It is definitely true that most muslims know almost nothing about Judaism. Most muslims are unaware of the Temple's enormous significance in Jewish and Christian history, or regard that "significance" as a latter-day pretext for trying to "steal" the Mount from the muslims.

[xJones]

Thank you for your clarifications.

Sheep, I thought you'd find this interesting.

[Sender]

One DOES have to wonder what might happen in the wake of such a catastrophe.

The analogy which keeps popping into my mind is that of an anthill. I don't have to imagine too hard to know that Big Trouble would be in the streets, not just in the PA areas but in many other countries as well.

[2sheep]

The analogy which keeps popping into my mind is that of an anthill.

Fireants.

[Sender]

fireants

Big mean red ones on a hot day.
Imagine big gold dome on top.
Imagine sneaker kicking mound.
Anyone in area is SOL.
Anyone who isn't an ant is SOL.

[Jeremiah Jr]

Temple Mount Archeological Destruction

http://www.har-habayt.org/

[2sheep]

>Big mean red ones on a hot day.
  Imagine big gold dome on top.
  Imagine sneaker kicking mound.
  Anyone in area is SOL.
  Anyone who isn't an ant is SOL.

SOL - 8/23/01 3 wks before 9/11

[crystalk]

The prediction of this bellying out of the southern wall is present in Isaiah in the string of prophecies concerning our local few years or decade-or-two.

It even uses the expression "har khomah" for the High Wall...which is now the name of a very embattled Jewish neighborhood nearby.

[xJones]

Big mean red ones on a hot day.

Forgive me for getting picky, but having been bitten by a few of them, fireants aren't red. They are nasty little dark brown filthy litte buggers that AmDoz and other pesticides only causes them to chage their locations temporariy. There were large red ants once in Texas, but the fireants killed them.

[xJones]

Okay, cancel my comments in my post #18, if you've ever been bitten by a fireant, you'd understand.

[2sheep]

>Big mean red ones on a hot day.
Imagine big gold dome on top.
Imagine sneaker kicking mound.
Anyone in area is SOL.
Anyone who isn't an ant is SOL.

                                        Sat Aug 24, 2:34 PM ET

Israeli Arab boys chant slogans and wave the Islamic green flag in front of the
Dome of the Rock on the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City
August 24, 2002. About 40,000 Israeli Arabs, mostly children, attended a
festival at the compound after a campaign for the protection of the revered site,
the third holiest for Islam. REUTERS/Ammar Awad