Editing Temple Mount (section)

==Archaeology, site alterations==
{{Main|Excavations at the Temple Mount}}
{{see also|Temple Denial|Islamization of the Temple Mount|Judaization of Jerusalem}}
Due to the extreme political sensitivity of the site, no real archaeological excavations have ever been conducted on the Temple Mount itself. Protests commonly occur whenever archaeologists conduct projects near the Mount. This sensitivity has not, however, protected both Jewish and Muslim works from accusations of destroying archeological evidence on a number of occasions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jerusalem's Temple Mount Flap – Archaeology Magazine Archive |url=http://www.archaeology.org/0003/newsbriefs/flap.html |work=archaeology.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/880761.html|title=Waqf Temple Mount excavation raises archaeologists' protests|date=11 July 2007|work=Haaretz.com}}</ref><ref>National Geographic, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20191114151655/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2019/11/jerusalems-massive-digs-reveal-new-treasures-and-stoke-ancient-conflicts-feature/ Maze of tunnels reveals remains of ancient Jerusalem: Controversial excavations under the Holy City uncover layers of history and stoke long-standing tensions]}}, November 14, 2019: "Some excavations, however, were overtly religious... after the Six Day War, the Ministry of Religion began an effort to expose its entire length by digging tunnels... For almost two decades there was little archaeological supervision of the tunnel work, and untold data were lost, says Israeli archaeologist Dan Bahat, who agitated successfully for archaeological control over the digs... Guards from the waqf encountered a prominent rabbi knocking down a crusader-era wall that sealed an ancient subterranean gate beneath the sacred platform... Fifteen years later, it was the turn of Israeli Jews to express outrage. In 1996 the waqf turned one of Jerusalem’s most impressive underground spaces, an enormous columned hall beneath the southeastern end of the platform known as Solomon’s Stables, from a dusty storeroom into the large Al Marwani Mosque. Three years later, the Israeli prime minister’s office granted a waqf request to open a new exit to ensure crowd safety{{snd}}Israel controls security on the platform{{snd}}but without informing the IAA. Heavy machinery quickly scooped out a vast pit without formal archaeological supervision. “By the time we got wind of it and stopped the work, a huge amount of damage had been done,” recalls the IAA’s Jon Seligman, then in charge of Jerusalem archaeology. Nazmi Al Jubeh, a Palestinian historian and archaeologist at Birzeit University, disagrees. “Nothing was destroyed,” he says. “I was there, monitoring the digging to be sure they did not expose archaeological layers. Before they did, I yelled, ‘Khalas!’ ”{{snd}}Enough! in Arabic."</ref> Aside from visual observation of surface features, most other archaeological knowledge of the site comes from the 19th-century survey carried out by [[Charles William Wilson|Charles Wilson]] and [[Charles Warren]] and others. Since the Waqf is granted almost full autonomy on the Islamic holy sites, Israeli archaeologists have been prevented from inspecting the area, and are restricted to conducting excavations around the Temple Mount.
[[File:South Temple Mount.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Southern Wall]] of Temple Mount, southwestern corner]]
After the Six-Day War of 1967, Israeli archeologists began a series of excavations near the site at the [[southern wall]] that uncovered finds from the Second Temple period through Roman, [[Umayyad]] and Crusader times.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schaalje |first=Jacqueline |title=Temple Mount in Jerusalem |url=http://www.jewishmag.com/42mag/templemount/templemount.htm |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=www.jewishmag.com}}</ref> Israeli archaeological digs at the southwestern corner of Temple Mount discovered traces of four Muslim palaces built under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], though the remains have not been well preserved but instead had a museum built upon them. The former UN envoy to Jerusalem, [[Raymond M. Lemaire]], criticised "the construction of a metallic pergola in the middle of the courtyard of one of the Umayyad palaces, which disfigures the site." Upon visiting Jerusalem in September 1999, medieval art historian [[Léon Pressouyre]] noted that the palaces had lost their archaeological features due to neglect, "for in the guise of highlighting the remains of previous periods [the Israeli authorities] trivialise the Umayyad palaces, major monuments in the area".<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Al-Ahram Weekly |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/543/fo2.htm |title=Revoking the death warrant |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517100521/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/543/fo2.htm |archive-date=2013-05-17 }}</ref>

Over the period 1970–1988, a number of tunnels were excavated in the vicinity, including one that passed to the west of the Mount and became known as the [[Western Wall Tunnel]], which was opened to the public in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1358753.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211175919/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1358753.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 11, 2007 | title=Violent clashes at key Jerusalem mosque on 'day of anger' |work=[[timesonline]] |access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/548443.stm | title=Mayor halts Temple Mount dig |work=[[BBC]] |access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref> The same year the Waqf began construction of a new mosque in the structures known since Crusader times as [[Solomon's Stables]]. Many Israelis regarded this as a radical change of the status quo, which should not have been undertaken without first consulting the Israeli government. The project was done without attention to the possibility of disturbing historically significant archaeological material, with stone and ancient artifacts treated without regard to their preservation.<ref>{{cite web |last=McCormack |first=Michael |date=February 8, 2005 |title=Temple Mount destruction stirred archaeologist to action |url=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID%3D20094 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726151231/http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?Id=20094 |archive-date=2014-07-26 |access-date=2016-02-06 |publisher=Baptist Press}}</ref>

Israeli organizations such as the [[Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount|Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount]] argue that Palestinians are deliberately removing significant amounts of archaeological evidence about the Jewish past of the site and claim to have found significant artifacts in the fill removed by bulldozers and trucks from the Temple Mount.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Borschel-Dan |first=Amanda |title=Muslim cleanup project 'illegally disturbed, removed' ancient soil on Temple Mt |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/muslim-cleanup-project-illegally-disturbed-removed-ancient-soil-on-temple-mt/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Palestinians mark Ramadan by destroying Temple Mount antiquities |url=https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/04/29/palestinians-mark-ramadan-by-destroying-temple-mount-antiquities/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=www.israelhayom.com}}</ref> Since the late 1990s, the [[Temple Mount Sifting Project]] has been reclaiming earth from similar illegal excavations on the mount that had been dumped in the nearby Kidron Valley that had yielded important finds, including Iron Age figurines, an 8th or 7th centuries BCE clay sealing inscribed in Hebrew, [[Yehud (Persian province)|Persian period]] [[Yehud coinage|YHD coins]], Herodian [[opus sectile]] tiles, Byzantine [[tessera]]e, and arrowheads, mostly from the Crusader period.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Amanda |first=Borschel-Dan |date=2019-07-09 |title=Temple Mount Sifting Project reboots, aims to salvage ancient temple artifacts |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/temple-mount-sifting-project-reboots-to-seek-more-direct-evidence-of-1st-temple/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Snyder |first1=Frankie |last2=Barkay |first2=Gabriel |last3=Dvira |first3=Zachi |title=Opus Sectile Floors on Jerusalem's Herodian Temple Mount |url=http://www.bavlionline.org/articles/opus_sectile%20_floors_on_jerusalems_herodian_temple_mount_english_abstract.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716011959/https://www.bavlionline.org/articles/opus_sectile%20_floors_on_jerusalems_herodian_temple_mount_english_abstract.pdf |archive-date=2022-07-16 |access-date=2022-07-01 |website= |via=The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dvira |first1=Zachi |last2=Barkay |first2=Gabriel |date=2021 |title=Jerusalem, The Temple Mount Sifting Project |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27131715 |journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel / חדשות ארכיאולוגיות: חפירות וסקרים בישראל |volume=133 |jstor=27131715 |issn=1565-043X}}</ref>
[[File:Gabriel_Barkay_with_Moshe_Ya'alon.jpg|thumb|[[Gabriel Barkay]] presents [[Moshe Ya'alon]] with the reconstructions of the [[opus sectile]] floors of the Herodian period plaza]]
In late 2002, a bulge of about {{cvt|700|mm}} was reported in the southern retaining wall part of the Temple Mount. A Jordanian team of engineers recommended replacing or resetting most of the stones in the affected area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hecht |first=Esther |title=Battle of the Bulge – Archaeology Magazine Archive |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0207/newsbriefs/templemount.html |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=archive.archaeology.org}}</ref> In February 2004, the eastern wall of the Mount was damaged by an earthquake. The damage threatened to topple sections of the wall into the area known as Solomon's Stables.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fr.jpost.com/Tags/satellite|title=Satellite News and latest stories &#124; The Jerusalem Post|website=fr.jpost.com}}</ref> A few days later, a portion of retaining wall, supporting the earthen ramp that led from the Western Wall plaza to the [[Mugrabi Gate|Gate of the Moors]] on the Temple Mount, collapsed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=57924|title=On-the-Spot Report from the Kotel Women´s Section Construction|work=Arutz Sheva|date=16 February 2004 }}</ref> In 2007 the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] started construction of a temporary wooden pedestrian pathway to replace the [[Gates of the Temple Mount|Mugrabi Gate]] ramp after a landslide in 2005 made it unsafe and in danger of collapse.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=121064
|title = Jerusalem Arabs Riot, Kassams Fired, After Old City Excavations
|access-date = February 7, 2007|last = Fendel|first = Hillel|date = February 7, 2007|publisher = [[Arutz Sheva]]
}}</ref> The works sparked condemnation from Arab leaders.<ref>{{cite news |last=Weiss |first=Efrat |date=February 7, 2007 |title=Syria slams Jerusalem works |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362024,00.html |access-date=February 7, 2007 |work=[[Yedioth Ahronoth]] |quote=Israeli excavation works near the al-Aqsa mosque in the holy city of Jerusalem have led to a dangerous rise in Middle East tensions and could derail revival of Arab-Israeli peace talks...what Israel is doing in its practices and attacks against our sacred Muslim sites in Jerusalem and al-Aqsa is a blatant violation that is not acceptable under any pretext.}}</ref>

In July 2007 the [[Waqf|Muslim religious trust]] which administers the Mount began digging a {{convert|400|metre|ft|-long|adj=mid}}, {{convert|1.5|metre|ft|-deep|adj=mid}} [[trench]]<ref name="AS1">{{cite web
| url = http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123622
| title = Silence in the Face of Continued Temple Mount Destruction
| access-date = 2007-09-07
| last = Fendel
| first = Hillel
| date = September 9, 2007
| publisher = [[Arutz Sheva]]
}}</ref> from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the [[Dome of the Rock]]<ref name="H1">{{cite web
| url = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/880761.html
| title = Waqf Temple Mount excavation raises archaeologists' protests
| access-date = 2007-07-11
| last = Rapoport
| first = Meron
| date = July 7, 2007
| work = [[Haaretz]]
}}</ref> in order to replace 40-year-old<ref name="G1">{{cite web
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/worldlatest/story/0,,-6887208,00.html
| title = Jerusalem Holy Site Dig Questioned
| access-date = 2007-09-07
| last = Teible
| first = Amy
| date = August 31, 2007
| work = [[The Guardian]]
}}{{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> electric cables in the area. Israeli archaeologists accused the waqf of a deliberate act of cultural vandalism.<ref name="H1" /> Accusations of vandalism at the site resurfaced in 2018 and again in 2022.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Saban |first=Itzik |title=Palestinians mark Ramadan by destroying Temple Mount antiquities |url=https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/04/29/palestinians-mark-ramadan-by-destroying-temple-mount-antiquities/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=www.israelhayom.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Saban |first=Itzik |title='Damage to Jewish antiquities on Temple Mount keeps me up at night' |url=https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/05/27/damage-to-temple-mount-antiquities-keeps-me-up-at-night/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=www.israelhayom.com}}</ref>