More on the Jerusalem excavations: Chief Jerusalem digger admits excavation endangers Arab homes
By Ma’an News Agency – 18 Jan 2010, updated 19 Jan 2010
www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=255127
Jerusalem – Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge for the Palestinian Authority, warned that the Al-Aqsa Mosque suffers from cracks and fissures in the walls, a sign of its impending collapse, as a result of Israeli excavations below it, he said on Monday.
Sheikh Tamimi further warned that houses in the surround neighborhood are at risk resulting from the Israeli Antiquities Authority working a night and removing dozens of bags with stones from the excavation site south of the mosque.
He further spoke of the rise in extremist Jewish, as well as military intrusion into the compound, including the entry of 50 students from various departments of archeology in Israeli universities to undertake research and of settlers while women prayed, he said.
The Sheikh held the Israeli government responsible for the collapses and deterioration around the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding environs and cautioned that Islamic and Christian sites are in jeopardy.
Sheikh Tamimi further called on Arabs and Muslims throughout the world to assist in halting the on-going Israeli excavations near the holy site.
His comments follow the another collapse in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, creating a 12 meter square hole in the middle of Wadi Hilwah street.
