An Archeological Atrocity 

Jerusalem Post Editorial

(December 24) - Jerusalem is one of the most
archeologically rich cities in the world. Within Jerusalem,
perhaps the most mysterious area from an archeological
point of view is the Temple Mount. This month, the Wakf
(Moslem trust) dug a hole 30 meters square and 12 meters
deep into the Temple Mount and dumped tons of the
excavated material by the truckload into the Kidron Valley. 

According to the Antiquities Authority, the Wakf committed
an "archeological crime" by using bulldozers to cut into a
place that archeologists might have probed with
toothbrushes. Although much of the damage has been done
and cannot be reversed, this damage will be significantly
exacerbated if Israel does not properly protect and
excavate the tons of fill that now sit alongside a garbage
dump. 

In retrospect, it is difficult to understand how Israel could
have allowed the initial, most serious damage to have
occurred in the first place. It was one thing for the Barak
government to quietly allow the Wakf to open a hole in the
Temple Mount in order create a new exit for the Marwani
Mosque. 

The mosque is located next to Al-Aksa Mosque, inside the
arched superstructure that supports the southeast corner of
the Temple Mount. It is therefore understandable that an
opening was necessary to provide an emergency exit for the
"underground" mosque and also understandable that the
Israeli government did not want to refuse permission to
create the new exit. 

What is impossible to accept is that the digging was done
without any visible attempt to preserve the artifacts that
were found and document them in situ, according to
accepted archeological techniques. 

The Christian and Moslem worlds, which would justifiably
be up in arms if Israeli authorities had deliberately used
bulldozers in such an area, are oddly silent when history is
trampled upon in a power struggle between the Wakf and
Israel. 

While Israel must bend over backwards to demonstrate its
qualifications as the custodian of sites holy to three religions,
the Wakf seems to act with blissful freedom to ignore the
heritage of any religion, its own or anyone else's. 

As revealed in today's Jerusalem Post, Israeli archeologists
believe that the Wakf did sift out some columns and large
carved stones from the fill that was removed. But no Israeli
archeologist has been allowed to examine this material,
which may remain lost from an archeological point of view. 

Now, as also reported in this newspaper, archeology
students have found that even the dirt that was
unceremoniously dumped in the Kidron Valley may be
more valuable than some archeologists initially claimed. A
cursory search by the students found pottery later identified
by senior archeologists to be from the Bronze Age, Second
Temple, late Roman, Byzantine, and early Moslem periods.


Even if the artifacts were first jumbled in the 11th century,
when used as fill following an earthquake, and again by the
Wakf's bulldozers, it is absurd to assume that nothing will
be found of archeological value. Based on experience with
the Wakf, it is fair to assume that bulldozers were used not
just out of archeological boorishness but in a deliberate
attempt to hinder the recovery of artifacts that it finds
ideologically inconvenient. 

The Wakf, incredibly, denies all Jewish connection to the
Temple Mount, as if history began in the Moslem era and
as if the First and Second Temples had never stood on the
same hilltop. The Wakf knows that so far the artifacts that
have been found from both Jewish Temples can be counted
on one or two hands - the Israel Museum recently devoted
an entire exhibit to a thimble-sized carved
pomegranate-shaped scepter head believed to have been
used in the First Temple. 

Given the possibility of significant finds in the fill removed
from the Temple Mount, that fill should be immediately
protected from robbers and from simply being washed into
the valley floor by winter rains. 

The fill should then be properly excavated, and the artifacts
already swiped by the Wakf examined by the proper
authorities. Finally, the government must find a way to
prevent such archeological atrocities in the future. The
jurisdiction ceded by Israel to the Wakf over Moslem
religious sites has been transformed into the right to damage
one of the most important archeological sites known to
man. If the Wakf is not willing or able to properly respect
its custodial role, Israel must exercise that role directly.