Saturday, November 03, 2007

A PROPOSED TUNNEL IN JERUSALEM near the Temple Mount is, unsurprisingly, generating controversy:
New Tunnel Would Connect Old City Muslim and Jewish Quarters

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has proposed building a tunnel to connect the Western Wall tunnels in Old Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter with the rebuilt Ohel Yitzchak synagogue in the Muslim Quarter. The synagogue was abandoned during the Arab riots in 1936 and later was blown up by the Jordanian army during its conquest of the Jewish Quarter in the 1948 War of Independence.

A group of government agencies is considering the plan to build an underground passage, but Muslim clerics already have condemned it as a trick to enable Jews to destroy the Al Aksa mosque.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and security services would have to approve the project, which comes less than a year after construction work near the Temple Mount was stopped by rioting Muslims around the world who accused Israel of trying to undermine to foundations of mosques.

The latest accusations by Muslim clerics neglect to mention that the proposed new tunnel would be located more than 100 yards away from the Temple Mount. In addition, construction work on the underground passageway would be minimized by using areas created by existing archaeological excavations beneath the Muslim Quarter.

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