Thursday, September 30, 2004
More on the Temple Mount
The Independent story linked above is the only major Western media coverage I've seen on this story.
I thought it would be helpful to provide a little more background. A small bulge had appeared on the southern wall in 2000 and by December 2002 it had grown to 100 feet wide and was protruding out to 3 feet, and another bulge appeared on the western wall. Water seepage was evident, and Israelis blamed unauthorized constructionby the Waqf on the "Solomon's Stables" section. Jordanian engineers were sent to fix it.
Almost a year ago to the day, an interior section of the wall collapsed
Again, there were the usual accusations from the Waqf that it was the Israelis fault. And in February of this year, after an earthquake and snowfall a section of the Western wall near the women's area fell, although miraculously, no one was hurt
Archeologist and Temple preservationist Dr. Eilat Mazal said, "the occurrence of another much bigger collapse is only a question of time and it will cause a major disaster"
Although I don't read Hebrew I'll see if I can get the captions translated. I believe the location on the lower far left on the curving staircase is the section that fell near the women's area this February. The spot adjacent to it should be the Western Wall bulge. And I assume the spot to the lower right is the southern wall bulge
Now that the Israeli's appeal to the Jordanians has failed, as posted by Smooth Stone, the situation is in God's hands. Issam Awad, the Waqf's chief engineer has gone on record as saying the Marwani mosque over Solomon's Stables is safe, and if he is wrong, there is only the Waqf and the Egyptian and Jordanian engineers they hired to blame for it.
Update - Titus at The Baby Seal Club, Rightwatch at LGF Watch Watch, and Matt at Eurabian Times have sounded the alarm on this story on their fine blogs.
And Smooth Stone reports that the Jordanians are planning more construction
I thought it would be helpful to provide a little more background. A small bulge had appeared on the southern wall in 2000 and by December 2002 it had grown to 100 feet wide and was protruding out to 3 feet, and another bulge appeared on the western wall. Water seepage was evident, and Israelis blamed unauthorized constructionby the Waqf on the "Solomon's Stables" section. Jordanian engineers were sent to fix it.
Almost a year ago to the day, an interior section of the wall collapsed
Again, there were the usual accusations from the Waqf that it was the Israelis fault. And in February of this year, after an earthquake and snowfall a section of the Western wall near the women's area fell, although miraculously, no one was hurt
Archeologist and Temple preservationist Dr. Eilat Mazal said, "the occurrence of another much bigger collapse is only a question of time and it will cause a major disaster"
Although I don't read Hebrew I'll see if I can get the captions translated. I believe the location on the lower far left on the curving staircase is the section that fell near the women's area this February. The spot adjacent to it should be the Western Wall bulge. And I assume the spot to the lower right is the southern wall bulge
Now that the Israeli's appeal to the Jordanians has failed, as posted by Smooth Stone, the situation is in God's hands. Issam Awad, the Waqf's chief engineer has gone on record as saying the Marwani mosque over Solomon's Stables is safe, and if he is wrong, there is only the Waqf and the Egyptian and Jordanian engineers they hired to blame for it.
Update - Titus at The Baby Seal Club, Rightwatch at LGF Watch Watch, and Matt at Eurabian Times have sounded the alarm on this story on their fine blogs.
And Smooth Stone reports that the Jordanians are planning more construction
papijoe 6:18 AM
|