Muslims sued for destroying Jewish Temple artifacts
Pastor Dale Morgan
Muslims sued for destroying Jewish Temple artifacts*
Israeli citizens in court with landmark case over Judaism's holiest site
Posted: November 9, 2007
News From Israel
JERUSALEM – In an unprecedented legal move, Israeli citizens this week
filed a criminal lawsuit against the Muslim custodians of Judaism's
holiest site, the Temple Mount, alleging the Muslim trust destroyed
Jewish antiquities, including a possible wall from the Second Jewish Temple.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government this summer allowed the Mount's
Waqf Islamic custodians to use bulldozers and other heavy equipment to
dig a massive trench on the Temple Mount which the Waqf claimed was
necessary to replace electrical cables outside mosques on the site.
Allowing the use of bulldozers at any sensitive archaeological site is
extremely unusual, particularly at the Temple Mount, which experts say
contains sealed layers of artifacts as shallow as two to three feet
below the surface.
The Mount has never been properly excavated. Heavy equipment could
easily damage any existing artifacts, stress Israeli experts, who assert
the area should be excavated slowly and carefully by hand.
In September, after bulldozers dug a trench 1,300 feet long and five
feet deep, the Muslim diggers reportedly came across a wall Israeli
archaeologists believe may be remains of an area of the Second Jewish
Temple known as the woman's courtyard.
Israel, however, blocked leading archeologists from surveying the
massive damage Islamic authorities are accused of causing to the
purported wall.
According to top archaeologists, the Waqf dig resulted in the
destruction of scores of Temple-era artifacts. At one point during the
dig, reporters obtained a photo of the Waqf trench. In view in the
picture, obtained in conjunction with Israel's Temple Institute, are
concrete slabs broken by Waqf bulldozers and what appears to be a
chopped-up carved stone from Jewish Temple-era antiquity.
Eilat Mazar, a leading Temple Mount archaeologist, confirmed the slabs
in the photo were antiquities with Temple-era attributes. She said
inspection of the slabs was required to verify its authenticity.
The Waqf repeatedly denied it found or destroyed any Temple artifacts.
But this week, 150 Israeli citizens filed a criminal complaint against
Waqf officials, utilizing a section of the country's penal code that
allows private citizens to bring criminal suits against an individual or
group that did wrong, including in cases in which the defendant is
accused of destroying property.
"The Temple Mount is the property of Jewish nation and has been for
thousands of years," Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the lead council for the
lawsuit, said.
"What the Waqf did was clearly destroying property of the Jewish people
by throwing away and chopping through artifacts; therefore the Jewish
people have a right to indict Wafq officials," said Nitsana, director of
the Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center.
The suit has been passed to Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who
will consider whether to immediately file legal charges against the
Waqf. If Mazuz declines, the Supreme Court will hear the case and then
can decide whether to recommend criminal charges. Charges can result in
prison time for Wafq leaders, explained Darshan-Leitner.
"The Waqf leaders belong in prison, and since Israel's government is
refusing to protect Jewish heritage and property, we will prosecute the
WAQF ourselves," she said. "This legal action is a moral obligation, not
only for the Jewish people, but also for the Christian community, which
has significant interests in safeguarding the Temple Mount as well."
History of destruction
The last time the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount –
during construction 10 years ago of a massive mosque at an area referred
to as Solomon's Stables – the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of
dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.
After media reported the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the
construction permit given to the Wafq, and the dirt was transferred to
Israeli archaeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found
scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including
coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean
lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple-period pottery with
Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft and other Temple period
artifacts. The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of
the existence of the Jewish Temples.
Temples 'never existed'
Most Palestinian leaders routinely deny well-documented Jewish ties to
the Temple Mount.
Speaking in a recent interview, Waqf official and chief Palestinian
Justice Taysir Tamimi claimed the Jewish Temples "never existed."
"About these so-called two Temples, they never existed, certainly not at
the Haram Al- Sharif (Temple Mount)," said Tamimi, who is considered the
second most important Palestinian cleric after Muhammad Hussein, the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
"Israel started since 1967 making archaeological digs to show Jewish
signs to prove the relationship between Judaism and the city, and they
found nothing. There is no Jewish connection to Israel before the Jews
invaded in the 1880s," said Tamimi.
The Palestinian cleric denied the validity of dozens of digs verified by
experts worldwide revealing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second
Temples, tunnels that snake under the Temple Mount and more than 100
ritual immersion pools believed to have been used by Jewish priests to
cleanse themselves before services. The cleansing process is detailed in
the Torah.
Asked about the Western Wall, Tamimi said the structure was a tying post
for Muhammad's horse and that it is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, even
though the wall predates the mosque by more than 1,000 years.
"The Western Wall is the western wall of the Al Aqsa Mosque," he said.
"It's where Prophet Muhammad tied his animal which took him from Mecca
to Jerusalem to receive the revelations of Allah."
The Palestinian media also regularly claim the Jewish Temples never existed.
Judaism's holiest site
While the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, Muslims say it is
their third holiest site.
The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century
B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple
was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian
captivity. It was expanded by King Herod in 19 B.C. shortly before the
birth of Jesus. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D.
70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed
the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said
to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt. The Dome of the Rock
now sits on the site and the Al Aqsa Mosque is adjacent.
The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices
and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.
The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services
over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered
by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish
tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion
of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine
near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic
caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states
Muhammad took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" –
believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest
mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque
later became associated with Jerusalem.