Temple Mount becoming mosque for Muslims only

Temple Mount becoming mosque for Muslims only
Top archaeologist blasts Israeli inaction as Islam 'takes over' Judaism's holiest site
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By Aaron Klein
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – The Israeli government is "doing nothing" while the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount discard Jewish artifacts and attempt to turn Judaism's holiest site into an exclusive prayer zone for Islam, a leading Israeli archeologist charged today.

Hebrew University's Eilat Mazor said the Waqf, the site's Muslim custodians, "want to turn the whole of the Temple Mount into a mosque for Muslims only."

"They don't care about the artifacts or heritage on the site," Mazor told the Israeli news site YnetNews.com.

"The Waqf has acted terribly, taking thousands of tons of artifacts from the First Temple, the Second Temple, as well as Muslim artifacts, and throwing them away."

Mazor was referring to Muslim excavations near a new mosque constructed at the Temple Mount's Solomon's Stables. During the excavations, the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods. After the media reported this, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq.

"There is a total ignorance of history and archeology. Artifacts showing ancient history are hidden," Mazor said.

Meanwhile, Muslims here this week are protesting work by the Israeli antiquities authority to repair a ramp near the Temple Mount even though the work, at the Western Wall plaza, is not taking place on the Mount and poses no threat to the holy site. Muslim leaders are calling for a "new intifada" to protest the routine Israeli repair work.

Mazor, a third-generation Israeli Temple Mount archaeologist, is the discoverer and lead archaeologist of Israel's City of David, believed to be the palace of the biblical King David, the second leader of a united Kingdom of Israel, who ruled from around 1005 to 965 B.C.

Mazor slammed the inaction of the Israeli government while Islam "takes over" the Temple Mount.

"The (Israeli) authorities have failed to deal with this issue. The only ones paying attention are the police, and they are only interested in quiet, so they do nothing," Mazor said.

But the Israeli government lately has been active on the issue of the Temple Mount.

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