Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Mounting Problems
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

An update on the riots at the Temple Mount we've been discussing here on Feiler Faster. As you know, riots broke out ten days ago after excavation work on the ramp to the Muslim portion of the Temple Mount -- the plaza on top -- created some problems. The knee-jerk reaction among the commenters on this site, and in the Israeli press, is that the Muslim authority has overreacted. Wouldn't be the first time this happened. The Palestinians are fond of using sideshows like this as a way to score points against the Israelis. That's why I called this an Archaeology Proxy War.

But now it turns out that the Israeli government may have found a Muslim prayer room in the excavation and kept it secret from the Palestinians for three years. Now I hardly think finding a Muslim prayer room near a site that was controlled by Muslims for more than twelve centuries is surprising. But how stupid of the Israeli government to keep this secret for three years. Imagine how this plays on Al Jazeera. I often hear Jews complain that the Arabs have better PR machinery. They turn out to have some collaborators in the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

An Israeli archaeologist said the site of an archaeological dig outside a disputed holy compound in Jerusalem might contain a Muslim prayer room, and the work drew renewed condemnation Sunday.
Muslim leaders and critics of the dig said the announcement of the find, three years after it was discovered, confirmed their fears that Israel is intent on hiding Muslim attachment to the site. Israeli officials denied that.

Two weeks ago, Israeli archaeologists began a salvage dig ahead of the construction of a new pedestrian walkway up to the disputed hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The site is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The dig, outside the compound's Mughrabi Gate, is meant to ensure that no valuable archaeological finds are damaged by the construction. But it has ignited a long-standing feud over who controls the site, and drawn Muslim charges that Israel is planning to damage Islam's holy places. The new report of the find provided more fuel for those allegations.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, which is running the dig, said Sunday that the room might not be a prayer room at all, and that archaeologists would know only after research was complete. If it was found to be a prayer room, a spokeswoman said, it would be carefully documented and left in place.

“If it's found to be important, it will be preserved and will remain as part of the archaeological park” outside the holy compound, the spokeswoman, Osnat Goaz, said.

Labels: Middle East

Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM
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