MUSLIM HATE OF ANTIQUITIES!
Protect the Temple Mount
by Hershel Shanks
(from The Washington Post, Opinion Columns, July 17, 2000)
The world's patrimony is being carried off in dump trucks.
All who care about the archaeological remains on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Solomon's temple once stood and later Herod's temple, should be incensed at Israel's failure to stop the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust that controls the site, from illegally destroying precious remnants of history important to Muslims as well as to Jews and Christians.
The Waqf has been destroying our history for nearly three decades without interference from Israeli authorities, despite the country's strict antiquities laws. In late 1999 in the guise of building an emergency exit from the underground area known as Solomon's Stables (which has been converted into a mosque), the Waqf began removing hundreds of truckloads of archaeologically rich material and dumped it in the Kidron valley. Ultimately, it removed more than 6,000 tons of earth, allowing the creation of what the police commander of the Jerusalem District called a "monumental entry gate" 200 feet long and 75 feet wide.
More recently, Waqf trucks once again have been observed entering and leaving the Temple Mount, carrying building materials on and moving earth off. Stacks of paving stones, scaffolding, wood and iron materials near the Golden Gate, as well as two small construction sheds, give credence to the report in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz that the Waqf is planning to erect a fourth mosque on the Temple Mount.
An open letter in June, signed by former and current Jerusalem mayors Teddy Kollek and Ehud Olmert, 82 members of parliament across the political spectrum, Amos Oz and other well-known writers, former army chiefs of staff, presidents of Israel's universities, professors of archaeology and members of Israel's law faculties, called the work of the Waqf "a serious act of irreparable archaeological vandalism and destruction."
Barak finally addressed the issue recently, declaring that he remained committed to preserving the status quo." The Jerusalem Post called the statement "Orwellian." There is no doubt that the work is illegal. No construction is permitted in areas with archaeological remains without permission from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Even with a permit the work must be done, under archaeological supervision.
As early as the 1970s the Waqf used a bulldozer to dig an illegal trench for utility lines that uncovered an ancient wall six feet wide and 16 feet long. The wall was removed before archaeologists could record and study it.
A 1983 editorial in Biblical Archaeology Review decried the Waqf's destruction of evidence that supported the views of a Hebrew University professor as to the precise location of the ancient Israelite temple. We wrote, "It seems obvious that no excavations for any purpose should be permitted on the Temple Mount except by qualified professional archaeologists. After the archaeologists finish their work, the excavated area can be used for non-archeologic purposes if no ancient remains are found."
In 1986 a suit was brought against the government and the Waqf seeking an injunction against further destruction of archaeological remains. The Waqf ignored the suit, because in its view any response might be a recognition of Israeli sovereignty. The government, however, opposed the suit.
Nevertheless, the then-district archaeologist for Jerusalem filed an affidavit stating that the Waqf systematically had destroyed, damaged or covered up archaeological remains. Israel's Supreme Court did not hand down its decision until 1993; it found that the Waqf had violated the country's antiquities laws; many of the 35 violations involved irreversible destruction of important archaeological remains. Even after the suit had been filed, the Waqf continued illegal construction, the court found. The Waqf ignored Antiquity Authority officials who instructed it not to build over or cover archeological remains or archeologically significant areas. The court nevertheless denied an injunction, expressing confidence that Israeli authorities would in the future correct their past errors.
The Temple Mount is the patrimony of the world. Israel is responsible for ensuring the preservation of archaeological remains on the Temple Mount. It has been suggested that Barak's reluctance to act stems from fears that it would adversely affect the peace process or might lead to violence. But the rule seems to be that during the negotiation process, neither side is to change the status quo. It is the Waqf that is changing the situation. And if Israel cannot prevent destruction of archaeological remains on the Temple Mount without Arab violence, perhaps Israel should know that now. On the other hand, the anticipation of violence may well show disrespect for the good common sense of the Arab world.
By The Associated Press
Last update - 20:34 27/09/2005
Israel unveiled an underground archaeological site near the Western Wall on
Tuesday, nearly a decade after the opening of an exhibit in the same area
sparked widespread Palestinian rioting.
The latest discovery included a ritual bath, or Mikveh, from the period of the
second Jewish Temple, destroyed in 70 A.D., and a wall that archaeologists said
dates to the first Jewish Temple, destroyed in 586 B.C. The findings strengthen
Jewish ties to the shrine also claimed by Muslims.
The new tourist center snakes underground, adjacent to the path of the Western
Wall, the last remaining retaining wall of the Temple. When the center is opened
in a few weeks, visitors will be presented with a sound and light show of Jewish
biblical history, highlighting recent discoveries of artifacts and
infrastructure dating back thousands of years, including one of the world's
oldest aqueducts.
Israel has been conducting archaeological digs near the Western Wall since it
captured east Jerusalem and its Old City in the 1967 Six Day War. The digs
infuriate Palestinians and the Islamic Trust that oversees the mosque complex
that now sits on the mountain that once held the biblical temples.
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the site is considered so holy that many
observant Jews won't go to the site for fear of defiling it. Known to Muslims as
Haram as-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, the site is now home to the Aqsa and
Dome of the Rock mosques and is revered by Muslims as the place where the
prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The shrine, which is adjacent to the Western Wall, is one of the most sensitive
in the Mideast conflict, and has often been the catalyst of Israeli-Palestinian
fighting. Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capitals.
In 1996, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the opening of an
archaeological tunnel alongside the compound, triggering Palestinian riots in
which 80 people were killed.
In September 2000, then-opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, visited the mosque
compound. The next day, violence erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
evolving into a nearly five-year-long Palestinian uprising.
Adnan Husseini, the head of the Waqf, or Islamic Trust, that oversees the
compound, condemned the digs and Israel's intention to open the site to the
public as a "confiscation" of Muslim property.
"Anything they do in the place means deepening their attacks on the Islamic
Waqf," Husseini said.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the chief rabbi of the Western Wall, said he was not
concerned violence would erupt after Israel opens the site because it does not
extend underneath the mosque compound.
Jewish religious decrees forbid digging in the compound, for fear archaeologists
would inadvertently enter the "holiest of holies," the most sacred site in the
temple, he said.
The latest findings and the high-tech center are meant to link the past with the
future and draw more Israeli children to the Western Wall, Rabinovitch said.
"Any discovery brings great excitement," he said. "It's part of our Jewish
heritage."
Mecca Conference
Criticized for Hypocrisy on Holy Site Destruction
By Sherrie Gossett
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
December 29, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Leaders of a recent conference in Mecca, which emphasized
the safeguarding of historic and holy Islamic sites in Jerusalem, are being
criticized for turning a blind eye to the reported destruction of such sites in
Saudi Arabia. Their statements condemning terrorism have also been criticized.
Representatives of 57 countries, including the prime minister of Malaysia and
King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz, who holds the title "Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques," attended the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which held its
summit Dec. 7-8 in Mecca.
The summit was convened to address "internal and external threats" facing the
wider Muslim community -- or "Ummah" -- in the 21st century.
The OIC was founded in Morocco on Sept. 25, 1969, following an arson attack
against the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Aug. 21 of that year.
Moral outrage over what the OIC still calls a "Zionist" attack has been an
organizing principle of the conference ever since, even though the perpetrator
of the arson turned out to be a deranged Australian tourist who belonged to a
Christian sect.
While the December summit tackled diverse issues such as poverty, disaster
relief and terrorism, a uniting theme was concern for the safety and state of
historic Islamic sites in Al-Quds (Jerusalem), including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Documents issued by the conference indicated that member states should make
contributions to "preserve the holy sites in the city of Al-Quds" and "safeguard
the sacred city's cultural and historic landmarks and Arab-Islamic identity."
The documents cited the need to counter "the judaization of the Holy City."
A statement released by the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu warned of
"illegal Israeli practices" and "aggressions" that aim to alter "historic
landmarks."
In a report issued the month before the conference, the secretary expressed
"grave concern" over the "deteriorating condition of religious and historical
sites" in Jerusalem due to "Israeli practices" such as excavations and the
building of the separation wall.
The OIC should "spare no effort to preserve the Islamic historical and religious
identity of Al-Quds Al-Sharif," wrote Ihsanoglu.
OIC leaders also cited the need to counter the "desecration of Islamic holy
sites."
"It is very ironic," said Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based
Institute for Gulf Affairs. "The same place where they had their meeting, not
one mile away, there are Islamic landmarks much more important in Islamic
history than all Islamic landmarks in Jerusalem, that are being destroyed."
Prophet Mohammed's childhood home set to be demolished
Al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and expert on Saudi political affairs, estimates that
the majority of Islamic landmarks in Saudi Arabia have already been destroyed.
Islamic architecture expert Sami Angawi told media earlier this year that at
least 300 historical buildings have been leveled in Mecca and Medina over the
past 50 years.
"A telling example is the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born and
[another] house he lived in until he was 29 are going to be demolished,"
Al-Ahmed said. Also destroyed was the 18th -century Ottoman-era Ajyad Fort.
"They destroyed it at night. They blew up the hill where the fort was situated
to make room for hotels," Al-Ahmed said.
In 2002, the Saudi Embassy released a statement saying the fort was not listed
by UNESCO as a World Heritage site and that the Saudi government had called for
its "rebuilding by experts in the same traditional way it was first built and at
the same location, albeit not on Bulbul Hill."
Other reportedly destroyed sites cited by Al-Ahmed include: the first house in
Islam, where the prophet Mohamed held secret meetings with his followers, which
was destroyed in the 1980s; the houses of the prophet in Medina, where he lived
for the last 10 years of his life; the Al-Fadik mosque in Medina built during
Mohammed's life and destroyed in July 2003; and the Ali Al-Oraidi Mosque and
Shrine in Medina destroyed in 2004. "It had been in operation for 1,200 years,"
said Al-Ahmed.
Behind the destruction is the Wahhabist strain of Islam, which seeks to destroy
any revered physical structures that clerics believe could lead believers to
idolatry, said Al-Ahmed. Real-estate development, especially around Mecca and
Medina, which hosts millions of pilgrims every year, is also a major factor.
Religious politics also plays a role. When authorities allegedly destroyed one
of the five renowned "Seven Mosques" built by the Prophet Mohammed's daughter
and four of his "greatest Companions," Wahhabists were approving. "The mosques
are not welcomed by Wahhabis," said Al-Ahmed. "It's partly political. They don't
want Shia to go there to pray."
Where the Abu Bakr mosque stood, there is now an ATM machine, said Al-Ahmed. The
home in which the founder of Islam grew up is slated to be destroyed, as well as
his birthplace, which has a library built over it. Two major battlefields with
both historic and religious significance have also reportedly been paved over.
In June of last year, the Islamic Supreme Council of America called for the
support of the world community, UNESCO and the United Nations to stop the
destruction of venerated Muslim sites in Saudi Arabia.
The exclusive emphasis of the OIC on the danger such sites in Jerusalem
allegedly face at the hands of Israeli Jews is a "highly selective
politicization of the issue," said Al-Ahmed. "Jerusalem is actually more
authentic than Mecca today -- the preservation is much better than that of
Mecca," he said.
If a historic Islamic site in Jerusalem such as the Dome of the Rock were ever
to be destroyed, Al-Ahmed said, "we'd have a bloodbath."
By comparison, Al-Ahmed noted the irony of a tape of the late Sheikh Mohammed
bin Othaimeen, who he described as the "number one Wahhabi cleric."
"On the tape he says, 'We hope one day we'll be able to destroy the dome of the
Prophet Mohammed," al-Ahmed quoted bin Othaimeen as saying in reference to the
"Green Dome" (Gunbad-e-Khadra), under which Mohammed is buried in the Al Nabawi
Sharif mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Ahmed's Institute for Gulf Affairs is planning a report and a conference on
the issue in the upcoming year. The report will contain commissioned photographs
and details of the destruction.
"Throughout the centuries, Muslims had no problem preserving these sites; now,
we have this new Islam that wants to destroy them. It is very sad and very
disturbing," Al-Ahmed added.
The OIC summit also addressed terrorism and social and political issues in
several documents it issued. Calls for solidarity among the 57 member nations
were accented by the voiced need to "counter foreign threats" and "reject
unilateral sanctions."
The OIC jointly condemned "the alarming phenomenon of "Islamophobia" and noted
the "moral obligation" of Western powers to provide socio-economic aid for its
part in causing harm over the years to Muslims. The OIC also resuscitated the
idea of establishing an International Islamic Court of Justice in Kuwait to
settle matters between member states.
'Criminalize every single terrorist practice'
Leaders at the summit affirmed the need to "criminalize every single terrorist
practice" and supported the establishment of an International Counter-Terrorism
Center as endorsed by the Riyadh International Conference on Combating
Terrorism.
While all of the summary documents issued by the OIC condemned terrorism, the
secretary general's report noted the "lack of consensus on the definition of the
term" and "insisted on its differentiation from the right to resist aggression,
foreign occupation and self-defense."
The statements don't carry much weight with those serious about
counter-terrorism, according to Yehudit Barsky, director of the Middle East and
International Terrorism department at the American Jewish Committee
headquartered in New York City.
"This is very similar to previous statements made by Arab countries and by the
Arab League," said Barksy. "They leave the door open for what they call
resistance movements. Legitimizing resistance movements is legitimizing
terrorism."
Nihad Awad, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
attended the Mecca summit. He did not respond to a request from Cybercast
News Service for comment on the conference, nor did he respond to a request
to give his opinion of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad Movement in
Palestine and whether he believes their use of violence is justified.
Regarding CAIR's previous condemnations of terrorism and violence against
"innocent" civilians, Awad also did not respond to the following question: "Do
you believe Israeli victims of suicide bombings are 'innocent victims,' or are
they legitimate targets of violent resistance...?"
Jerusalem Muslim leader calls for halt in Israeli excavation
project
By RAVI NESSMAN (Associated Press
Writer)
Associated Press
01/03/2006
JERUSALEM - The top Muslim cleric in the Holy Land on Tuesday called on Israel to halt work on an archaeological project near a disputed holy site, saying continuing the dig would inflame tensions in the region.
Israeli authorities recently unveiled an underground site that strengthens Jewish ties to the hilltop compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.
The compound was the site of the biblical Jewish temples, and is considered so holy that many observant Jews will not go there for fear of defiling it. It currently houses the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques and is revered by Muslims as the place where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Israel has conducted archaeological digs near the compound since it captured the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. The digs infuriate the Palestinians and the Islamic Trust that oversees the mosque complex. The competing claims to the site have often acted as a catalyst for Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
In September, Israel unveiled a tourist center at the underground site near the compound that details the Jewish connection to the site. The center showcases a ritual bath from the period of the second Jewish Temple, destroyed in 70 A.D., and a wall archaeologists say dates to the first Jewish Temple, destroyed in 586 B.C.
The top Muslim clergyman, or mufti, of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, called the archaeological project an "aggression" that threatened the mosque compound and demanding an immediate end to the digs.
"These violations and aggression lead to tension in the region," he said Tuesday.
In 1996, Palestinians rioted after Israel opened an archaeological tunnel alongside the compound. Eighty people were killed in the violence.
In September 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the mosque compound. The next day, violence erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, evolving into a nearly five-year Palestinian uprising that killed more than 3,500 people on the Palestinian side and more than 1,000 people on the Israeli side.
Sabri and other local Muslim leaders also accused Israel of opening a synagogue in the newly opened site, which they considered a challenge to their own claims to the compound.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the chief rabbi of the Western Wall, said there was no new synagogue at the site and the digs did not go into the compound.
"It's lies and there is nothing behind what they are saying," he said.
Sheik Raed Salah, a radical leader of Israel's Islamic Movement, called the excavations a "black stain" on Israel and accused the government of plotting to destroy the mosques to build a new temple.
"You are inviting an uprising against you just to stop your attack on the mosque," he said.
Israel has repeatedly denied any plans to damage the mosques and has stopped several attempts by Jewish extremists to destroy the shrines.
"The third temple will not be built by people. As we know in the Jewish faith it will be built by God," Rabinovitch said.
Destroy Egypt's Antiquities?
When the Islamic Republic of Iran first came to power in 1979, some of its leaders made noises about the need to destroy the pagan structures at Persepolis, with its many idolatrous elements, but saner heads prevailed and the ruins have survived. In March 2001, the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan did in fact destroy a giant statue of the Buddha at Bamiyan. The Saudi rulers in recent years have destroyed ancient buildings and sites in Mecca and Medina (for a shocking account of this, see Daniel Howden, " The destruction of Mecca: Saudi hardliners are wiping out their own heritage").
Now word comes that Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt issued a fatwa ruling that the exhibition of statues in homes is prohibited. Although he did not mention statues in museums or public places, some Egyptians fear that the ruling could encourage attacks against the thousands of Pharaonic statues both in situ and in museums. Worries Gamal al-Ghitani, editor of the literary magazine Akhbar al-Adab: "We don't rule out that someone will enter the Karnak temple in Luxor or any other pharaonic temple and blow it up on the basis of the fatwa."
Comment: It is bad enough when Islamist regimes threaten or actually do destroy historical, cultural, and artistic artifacts; have we now reached the point that even standard-issue Muslim regimes feel compelled to take such steps? (April 3, 2006)
Apr. 11, 2006 update: Youssef Ibrahim, an Egyptian writer, rues what the Gomaa fatwa might lead to:
Should we prep for a Taliban-style orgy in Egypt? Melting gold statues of King Tut (Tutankhamen is his full name); smashing Cleopatra images; dynamiting the magnificent temples of Karnak; blowing up the Valleys of the Kings and Queens in Luxor; bulldozing the majestic Fila temple; burning Roman, Greek, and early Christian icons, and sacking treasures of civilization in Egyptian museums up and down the Nile Valley?
Ibrahim notes that Gomaa "is no lightweight" but someone who carries much clout in Egypt. Further, some leading religious figures "rushed to his support," including Yusuf al-Qardawi, an Egyptian who lives in Qatar and is considered by some the most influential Sunni mufti alive, who wrote that Islam has "proscribed all that leads to paganism or smells of it – statues of ancient Egyptians included."
That no one of importance has stood up to this fatwa, Ibrahim concludes, "is catastrophic."
Mediaeval inscription sparks political spat
June 14, 2006
ANKARA:
An inscription at a medieval dungeon translated as “Where God does not exist”
caused a politically-charged spat in Turkey yesterday as the Islamist-rooted
government faced accusations of having ordered the erasure of the sign.
Newspapers quoted the head of the Archaeology Museum in Bodrum, Yasar Yildiz, as
saying that the culture ministry ordered the 500-year-old inscription scraped
away after government inspectors decided that it had “no historical and
archaeological value”.
The Latin inscription – Inde deus abest translated as “Where God does not exist”
– is carved at the entrance to a dungeon in the Castle of St Peter in Bodrum, an
Aegean resort popular with foreign tourists.
It is believed to have been written by the Knights of St Peter, a mediaeval
order of crusaders, who built the castle in the 15th century and used the
dungeon as a torture chamber.
The spat comes at a time when the government, the offshoot of the now-banned
Islamist Welfare Party, is accused of seeking to raise the profile of Islam in
mainly Muslim but strictly secular Turkey.
The former head of the Bodrum museum charged that the inscription had first
irked the Welfare government, which ruled Turkey for a year until June 1997 when
it was forced to resign for undermining the secular system.
“They wanted to eradicate it on the grounds that there cannot be a place where
Allah is not present. The same mentality has taken action again,” Oguz Alpozen
told Sabah.
Culture Minister Atilla Koc said yesterday that he ordered an investigation into
the inscription last year, following complaints by visitors.
Koc said the inspectors concluded the inscription was not authentic and was
carved in 1994 during restoration work.
A new investigation would be carried out, he said, adding that the sign would
stay as it is until the probe is completed.
Museum officials had already removed a sign with the English and Turkish
translations of the writing, newspapers said.
The Castle of St Peter is today a museum of underwater archaeology displaying
shipwrecks and other undersea finds. – AFP
Israeli excavation in Jerusalem stirs Muslim anger
06 Feb 2007 11:44:08 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Jonathan Saul
JERUSALEM, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Israeli excavation work on Tuesday near an entrance to a compound in Jerusalem that houses the al-Aqsa mosque drew Palestinian protests and Israeli assurances the dig would not harm Islam's third holiest shrine.
Israeli police stationed reinforcements in the alleyways of Jerusalem's walled Old City to head off feared Palestinian violence at a flashpoint site at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel's Antiquities Authority said it was searching for artifacts at the base of the compound known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount before construction of a pedestrian bridge to replace a ramp leading up to the complex.
Two bulldozers began breaking up parts of the pavement at the foot of the ramp, damaged by a snowstorm and an earthquake in 2004, to clear the way for what the authority called a "salvage excavation."
After an all-clear from the authority that no artifacts remain, plans can be finalized for the 100-metre (yard) pedestrian bridge to the Mughrabi Gate entrance to Haram al-Sharif, which overlooks Judaism's Western Wall.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said before leaving for unity talks with the rival Fatah movement in Mecca that Israel was out to cause "direct harm" to the silver-domed al-Aqsa.
"I appeal to all our Palestinian people to be united and to rise up together to protect al-Aqsa and the holy sites on the blessed land of Palestine," Haniyeh said.
Israeli officials said the excavation work, some 50 meters (yards) from the existing ramp, would do no harm to al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock mosque which is also located on the hilltop compound where the two biblical Jewish temples once stood.
"Nothing in the work touches the wall of the Temple Mount. The wall is firmly embedded in the rock and there is no way that such work can cause damage to the Roman walls of the Temple Mount," said Gideon Avni, the Antiquities Authority's director of excavations.
NO COOPERATION
Avni said the project had not been coordinated with the Islamic trust, or Waqf, that administers Haram al-Sharif.
"The excavations site is open to archaeologists, engineers, professionals. We are not hiding anything. Everything will be displayed to the public. The Waqf is invited to come and look at the results and give their comments," he said.
Taysir Tamimi, head of the Islamic courts in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, called on "all Palestinians to go and protect al-Aqsa against Israeli plans that aim to destroy the mosque."
In Bethlehem, crowds of Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers outside Rachel's Tomb, a holy site at the entrance to the West Bank city. The soldiers responded with tear gas.
"There is no doubt that violence will not be preventable -- if not today, then tomorrow or next week," said Abu Mohammed, a 29-year-old Palestinian taxi driver from East Jerusalem.
"Why do they need to do this, to create the chance for blood to be spilled," he asked. "All we want is to live in peace without anything like this."
Israel's opening of an entrance to an archaeological tunnel near Haram al-Sharif in 1996 touched off violent Palestinian protests and led to clashes in which 61 Arabs and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed.
A Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon toured the compound.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 conflict in a step that has not been recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future state.
Archeologists slam authorities over
Muslim dig
A group of Israeli archeologists on Monday renewed their blistering condemnation of the Antiquities Authority for authorizing Muslim officials to carry out a dig on Jerusalem's Temple Mount with tractors and other heavy equipment as part of infrastructure work to repair faulty electrical lines on the ancient compound.
The work started last month on the northern section of the Temple Mount in the area of the outer courts of the ancient Jewish Temples with the approval of the Israel Police and the state-run Antiquities Authority, Israeli and Islamic officials said. Independent Israeli archeologists said that the work left a 100-meter-long and roughly 1-1.5 meter deep trench, and has damaged the site.
"This is a barbaric action on the most sensitive place in archeology of the Jewish nation," said Bar-Ilan University archeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkai, a member of the Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount.
Barkai said that work carried out at the site on Monday - which eyewitnesses say was done with an Antiquties Authority official present - was the most damaging to date.
"If this was done with the Antiquities Authority supervision it is even worse, because the crime was done before our very eyes," he added.
The non-partisan group of Israeli archeologists and intellectuals from across the political spectrum has previously lambasted Israel's chief archeological body for permitting the work at the site but Monday's damage prompted them to issue their harshest criticism of the state-run archeological body to date.
"It is outrageous that the Antiquities Authority is taking part in an archeological crime by pretending they are supervising the site while they are in fact witnessing the crime as it takes place," said group spokeswoman Dr. Eilat Mazar, a leading Temple Mount expert.
Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Dalit Menzin declined to comment on the issue.
According to decades-old regulations in place at the Temple Mount, Israel maintains overall security control at the site, while the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, is charged with day- to-day administration of the ancient compound. Jerusalem police have said that in coordination with the Antiquities Authority they had given Islamic officials approval for the work.
Wakf director Azzam Khatib said that the work followed an electrical shortage in the al Aksa Mosque.
The Antiquities Authority, which by law is charged with supervising Israel's archeological sites, has in the past been criticized by the apolitical group of archeologists for overlooking large-scale Islamic construction on the site which resulted in archeological damage because of the political sensitivities involved.