|
|
Jewish World Review Sept. 4, 2002 / 27 Elul, 5762
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem --- holiest spot on earth for Jews and ranking up there in
sanctity also for Christians and Muslims - may soon come partly crashing down.
Despite appearances, the 35-acre [14-hectar] Temple Mount plateau is not a natural formation
but a man-made esplanade built centuries ago by stacking one large brick-like rock atop
another.
The wall on one side might cave in due to the fact that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has had
administrative control over the Temple Mount since the mid-1990s and since then has made many
structural changes, all aimed at increasing Muslim claims to the site. In particular, the PA
converted a long-disused space at the southern end, known as Solomon's Stables, into a mosque.
In the process, it took down some supports. These alterations weakened the southern wall; an
area 227 square yards [190 square meters] of the wall now bulges out as much as 28 inches [71
centimeters].
The PA professes no concern. "This bulge is under our monitoring since the 70s" and has
neither grown nor shifted in thirty years, says Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic
religious authority (called the waqf) that oversees the Temple Mount.
"It is stable, we don't feel that there is any dangerous situation."
Knowledgeable Israelis beg to differ. Already back in 2001, the Israel Antiquities Authority
(IAA) warned that if not treated, the bulge would cause the Temple Mount "irreversible
damage."
Today, their warnings are alarmed. That wall is "in danger of collapse," says Shuka Dorfman,
head of the IAA. It certainly "will fall if nothing is done about it," says Giora Solar,
formerly of the Getty Conservation Institute. "It could collapse," says Jerusalem's Mayor Ehud
Olmert. It "will collapse," warns Eilat Mazar, an archaeologist at Hebrew University. Mazar
goes on: "The central issue at present is whether it will collapse on the heads of thousands
of people who are praying there, or whether it will be done in a controlled manner."
The moment of truth might come in November. That's the Ramadan holiday, when thousands of
Muslim worshippers will aggregate in the mosque at Solomon's Stables. Their weight and
movement could cause the southern wall to give way, causing yard-long rocks to come cascading
down on them, possibly killing many.
Judging by prior incidents in Jerusalem - the arson at Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969, the opening of
a tunnel in 1996 - this disaster would lead at least to wide-scale fighting in Jerusalem and a
heated international crisis. If things really went wrong, it could precipitate a wave of
violence in Europe and a full-blown Arab-Israeli war. It could also complicate the war on
Iraq, obstruct the war on terrorism, and jump the price of oil and gas. At worst, it could
unleash an end-of-days messianism in three monotheistic religions, with unforeseeable
consequences.
The structural integrity of this ancient wall is, in short, very serious business.
And yet successive Israeli governments, both Labor and Likud, have abdicated their role,
turning a deaf ear to the increasingly anxious predictions. Their insouciance has two main
causes.
First, memories of 1969 and 1996 are enough to make any Israeli leader want to stay away from
Jerusalem holy places. Second, it is a well-established tradition that the governing
authority in Jerusalem - Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Israeli - endorses the status quo,
permits precedent to have sway, and stays out of the city's many and hugely intractable
religious disputes.
Thus, when Israel captured the Temple Mount in 1967, it permitted the waqf to remain in charge
there. The PA has exploited that deference of thirty-five years ago to increase Muslim claims
to the Temple Mount, notably by building the new mosque at Solomon's Stables. That the waqf
denies any structural problems means the Israeli authorities just tip-toe away.
But they cannot afford to any longer. At issue is not some squabble over who gets to sweep
which church step or who gets which hours in a sanctuary; this is a disaster in the making.
As the Jerusalem Post correctly editorializes, that the government of
Israel has abdicated its responsibilities is "nothing less than scandalous" and it must now,
however belatedly, "finally assert its full sovereignty over the area."
Governments around the world, Jewish organizations, and others with influence over the Israeli
prime minister should get him to attend to the wall before it and much else
By Daniel Pipes
JWR contributor Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and the author of several books, most recently Militant Islam Reaches America. Comment by clicking here.