Last week, a block of stone weighing over 200 pounds was dislodged from the Western Wall, falling dangerously close to a worshipper. The causes of the accident are unclear, but David M. Weinberg raises a troubling possibility:
It’s possible, say scientists and archaeologists, that the stone was weakened from its moorings by water that seeped through the soil fill behind the wall or by vegetation growing within the wall itself. But it is also possible that the waqf, the Muslim religious trust that oversees the Temple Mount, caused the near catastrophe [with its] illegal digging projects and unsupervised underground renovations on the Temple Mount. . . .
The Israel Antiquities Authority plans a scan of the southern and eastern sections of the Temple Mount walls, but it has not yet been carried out because everything related to the Temple Mount is diplomatically sensitive. The mere agreement on who is responsible for inspecting and fixing stones is in itself complicated. . . .
The troubles began in 1999, when the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the waqf violently and illegally plowed with heavy machinery into the ground below the al-Aqsa mosque to turn [the ancient structure called] “Solomon’s Stables” into a vast underground prayer area, now known as el-Marwani mosque. Without any scientific supervision whatsoever, they bulldozed 9,000 tons of the most valuable dirt on the globe and unceremoniously dumped close to 400 truckloads of it as “garbage” in the Kidron Valley. It’s clear the Islamists were seeking not only to expand their prayer space but purposefully to destroy any traces of Jewish history on and under the Mount.
Furthermore, the waqf has proclaimed its intent to turn the whole Temple Mount plaza—a vast compound—into a prayer zone, thereby precluding any possibility in the future of allocating even a small corner for Jewish prayer. . . . And last month, under the cover of Ramadan (when non-Muslims are banned from the Temple Mount and Israeli police take a step back), hundreds of Muslims actively began picking through the supposedly protected rubble, taking stones to build terraces. . . .
Israel should act with determination to counter Palestinian-Islamic aggression against Jewish history in Jerusalem, and, of course, ensure the stability of Temple Mount walls.
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/secure-the-temple-mount-now/