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A boy praying at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Tomer Appelbaum / BauBau)
Last update - 10:49 09/01/2008
Jewish group asks AG to halt dig in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Muslim Quarter 

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority have begun excavations dozens of meters from the Temple Mount, with the goal of creating an underground passage linking the Western Wall tunnels to an ancient synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter.

The move sparked opposition from the nonprofit organization Ir Amim, which wrote to Attorney General Menahem Mazuz Tuesday to ask him to order the tunnel construction halted. It also asked him to open a criminal investigation into alleged construction and trespassing offenses.

Ir Amim attorney Danny Zeidman argued in the letter that the tunnel project is illegal, as it lacks both the necessary permits and permission from the Palestinians beneath whose homes it is being dug. He also said the project contravenes a High Court of Justice ruling earmarking each quarter of the Old City for the ethnic group whose name it bears.
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The antiquities authority denied that excavations have actually begun. It said that it - in conjunction with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, a government organization responsible for physically maintaining and renovating the Western Wall area - is currently merely examining the feasibility of linking the two sites. A senior antiquities authority official said the project has religious, and not necessarily archaeological, significance.

But Zeidman said the antiquities authority has recently begun work to expand the Western Wall tunnels westward, in accordance with instructions from the heritage foundation. The foundation also instructed the authority - which is excavating the site of Ohel Yitzhak, an ancient synagogue in the Muslim Quarter located some 150 meters from the Temple Mount - to start clearing space to Ohel Yitzhak's east. Both the heritage foundation and the authority are aware, said Zeidman, that the excavations are aimed at creating a tunnel to link the two sites.

Zeidman argues that the excavation is illegal both because no zoning plan for the area has been approved and because the Archaeological Council has not issued a permit for the project.

The work is considered a salvage dig, but Zeidman maintains that such a description applies only to excavations that are part of an approved plan for above-ground construction, and that no such plan has been submitted in this case.

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said the owner of the Ohel Yitzhak site - American Jewish businessman Irving Moskowitz, a regular donor to right-wing groups in East Jerusalem - gave the Western Wall Heritage Foundation the right to manage the synagogue site and the excavations. He added that a decision on whether the synagogue can be linked to the Western Wall tunnels is expected in two weeks.

The goal of the excavation is "to reveal the Jewish people's past," said Rabinowitz. He said the heritage foundation has the right to operate throughout the Old City, and that he is unaware of a need to ask permission from Muslim Quarter residents who live over the excavation site.



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      1.   We don`t need permission from the Palestinians.... 09:27  |  bf 09/01/08
      2.   No need for permission to dig under the ground 11:06  |  Victor 09/01/08
      3.   "jewish" group 11:17  |  SJ 09/01/08
      4.   Ir Amim 11:18  |  Kulak 09/01/08
      5.   Jewish Group? You mean like Kappos? 11:26  |  Mark Hamil 09/01/08
      6.   Illegal or legal? 11:43  |  Anne 09/01/08
      7.   danny zeidman you always seem to be on the other side 12:19  |  harzion 09/01/08
      8.   Soveriegnty means no asking 4 permission 12:48  |  Jenny 09/01/08
      9.   we have found bowls and spoons under al aqsa 13:03  |  jooish archeologist 09/01/08
      10.   #Harzion / also Jenny 13:07  |  Anne 09/01/08
      11.   Anne since you live among us 13:48  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/01/08
      12.   we zionist are all alike! anyone can see that! 14:13  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/01/08
      13.   Keep digging until the mosque collapses 14:31  |  Petra 09/01/08
      14.   # 6 Jenny YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14:32  |  Petra 09/01/08
      15.   Who are we? 14:41  |  Moshe 09/01/08
      16.   Haaretz STOP 14:49  |  GABE1 09/01/08
      17.   Wow - I can`t wait for the day... 14:51  |  Elihu Stone 09/01/08
      18.   # 15 Who are we? JEWS! IN A JEWISH LAND 14:54  |  Petra 09/01/08
      19.   When the mosque collapses 15:05  |  Janet 09/01/08
      20.   Pathetic copier: #12 no identity of your own? 15:09  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/01/08
      21.   #15 Moshe; you tell me 15:12  |  AliciaYasmeen 09/01/08
      22.   Only in the warped mind of leftist fanatics 15:38  |  Jew 09/01/08
      23.   A ridiculous project for non-Jewish antiquities 15:44  |  Tosefta 09/01/08
      24.   # 21 Janet tHE MOSQUES IS AN ABOMINATION OF DESOLATIONS 15:54  |  Petra 09/01/08
      25.   tosefta seek and you shall find 16:06  |  amy winehouse 09/01/08
      26.   tosefta katyushas and deterrence 16:11  |  haim 09/01/08
      27.   67 borders= 1 million arabs in east Jerusalem 16:14  |  mickey SouthLebanon 09/01/08
      28.   petra someone must worry otherwise we are in trouble 16:20  |  ultrazionist 09/01/08
      29.   Is it in the bit of Jerusalem 16:27  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/01/08
      30.   # Ultra Zionist nu? Worry doesn`t stop the rockets 16:43  |  Petra 09/01/08
      31.   Rape Israel 16:45  |  paul almond 09/01/08
      32.   #23 Tosefta: and it is ALL Israel´s history, where Truth lies! 16:49  |  AliciaYasmeen 09/01/08
      33.   How did the Antiquities Authority become... 16:50  |  Kol ha-Nevi`im 09/01/08
      34.   Moshe #15: I think you`re onto something here... 16:58  |  Kol ha-Nevi`im 09/01/08
      35.   #6 Correct translation 16:58  |  nina 09/01/08
      36.   its funny - arabs dont seek our permission to dig on temple mount 16:59  |  SHIMON 09/01/08
      37.   To Margie in Tel Aviv 17:10  |  Anne 09/01/08
      38.   #6 Anne: polishing dots for you to get the meaning right 17:18  |  AliciaYasmeen 09/01/08
      39.   #To Petra 17:20  |  Anne 09/01/08
      40.   32. Alicia finally says the truth: zion is history 17:43  |  earns name 09/01/08
      41.   To Alicia 17:54  |  Anne 09/01/08
      42.   permission to dug 17:57  |  lkm 09/01/08
      43.   good neighbours 18:19  |  Machiavelli Spinoza 09/01/08
      44.   #24 Petra 18:26  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/01/08
      45.   petra you are not rational 18:27  |  ultrazionist 09/01/08
      46.   #32 AliciaYasmeen and history 18:27  |  Tosefta 09/01/08
      47.   The Arabs are Lucky 18:47  |  Danite 09/01/08
      48.   moshe....are they really your brothers and sisters? 19:07  |  maria 09/01/08
      49.   do you think by referring to their ancestry that gives them any 19:07  |  ralph 09/01/08
      50.   perhaps thes eare the jews you guys think should be raped 19:08  |  ralph 09/01/08
      51.   #19 janet....it will happen. 19:12  |  maria 09/01/08
      52.   ultrazionist re. petra...no one will blow out the mosque... 19:17  |  maria 09/01/08
      53.   52. maria xtian for zion you are not true christian 19:36  |  christian 09/01/08
      54.   #46 Tosefta: clarification 19:38  |  AliciaYasmeen 09/01/08
      55.   To Maria/ 52 19:49  |  Anne 09/01/08
      56.   Remove Hideous Gold Thing from Temple Mount 20:31  |  Mark Hamil 09/01/08
      57.   If there are Synagogues it is not Muslim Property 20:48  |  Genuine Tosefta 09/01/08
      58.   smiting thy own hand 20:57  |  Jewbrew 09/01/08
      59.   Anne....God knows who`s going to accept Him. 20:58  |  maria 09/01/08
      60.   christian........why do you say that? 21:05  |  maria 09/01/08
      61.   Idolatry in the western wall 21:44  |  Commandment 09/01/08
      62.   Blowing up the mosque or "natural calamities" 22:48  |  Jax 09/01/08
      63.   SOLUTION 23:26  |  VENI VIDI 09/01/08
      64.   Where are all the posts? 23:58  |  Meron Rapoport 09/01/08
      65.   #1 Really? 00:05  |  Maureen Ann 10/01/08
      66.   Maria - Jesus said, it is the SPIRIT of the law 00:19  |  True Christian Maria 10/01/08
      67.   Anne - AMEN! 00:21  |  Peter 10/01/08
      68.   Maria 00:24  |  Man 10/01/08
      69.   Genuine Tosefta 00:25  |  True Shylock 10/01/08
      70.   #58 Why you are more right than other robbers and fake prophets? 00:39  |  Genuine Tosefta 10/01/08
      71.