Last update - 00:00 26/02/2007
MK Zakur calls on PM to end Mugrabi Gate dig
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
MK Abbas Zakur (Ra'am-Ta'al) on Monday asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end the excavations under the Mugrabi ramp to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.
Zakur toured the dig site Monday accompanied by a representative from the Antiquities Authority, the government agency conducting the excavation.
During the tour, Zakur was shown a mehrab - a prayer room which indictates the direction Muslims should face when praying - unearthed in the excavation under the ramp.
Zakur is a Knesset representative for the Islamic Movement's southern branch - the members of which are considered less fundamentalist than those of the northern branch headed by Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, and who are engaged in dialogue with the government.
The group's representatives recently met with ambassadors from Jordan and the Persian Gulf states to discuss the Temple Mount excavation.
Zakur warned that the continuation of the excavation would damage the mosques in the area. "It will cause further unrest, and riots that nobody wants," he said in his letter to the prime minister, adding that "I'm full of hope that my request will find an attentive ear on your side, and that you will know how to behave wisely and honor the holy sites."
According to the Islamic Movement, the area under the ramp contains two prayer rooms, and the mosque in that location is called the Al-Boraq Mosque. Al-Boraq is the place where according to Muslim tradition, Mohammed tied his mount before he ascended to the heavens. That area is now associated with the Western Wall compound.
In messages issued by the Islamic Movement's northern branch, the prayer rooms are referred to as part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the construction work is therefore interpreted as an attempt to harm the mosque which is actually several dozen meters away.
Jordanian sources told Haaretz Monday that the Jordanian parties examining the Temple Mount excavation site are part of UNESCO delegation to Israel. The delegation was originally scheduled to arrive at a later date, but decided to expedite their visit because of the excavation.
The Jordanian press on Sunday reported that Jordan sent an official delegation to examine the work at the site of the Mugrabi ramp.