For years, the Islamic Waqf has worked, unchallenged, to destroy historical evidence of the two Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount and build other structures. Now, Israel has ordered a halt to construction out of fear the process would damage the Western Wall.
The Jerusalem Municipality has ordered the Islamic Waqf (Muslim Trust) to stop its construction works to build a structure on the Temple Mount.
The warrant was issued at the end of a meeting on the issue headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, following a complaint by the Temple Mount Antiquities Rescue Committee.
A spokesperson for the municipality told Israel Radio that the construction started without obtaining the appropriate approvals.
It is feared that if the Waqf carried through with their plan it would have damaged the Western Wall (Kotel).
The Islamic Waqf, controlled by Jordan, is carrying out extensive unauthorized earthworks and construction on the Temple Mount which risk irrevocably damaging the archaeological remains of the Temple.
Israeli archaeologists have recovered numerous millennia-old artifacts from the rubble dumped by the Waqf, and fear that many other such artifacts have been lost.
Just recently, a young girl digging through rubble illegally removed by the Islamic Waqf from the Temple Mount, discovered a rare 3,200-year-old amulet dating from the ancient pharaohs.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in the Jewish religion and is also a holy shrine in Islam.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel
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