Let Them Riot
Last update - 23:10 06/02/2007
Abbas: Dig near Al-Aqsa Mosque likely to endanger peace efforts
By Haaretz Service and News AgenciesPalestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said that Israeli excavation works near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem were likely to endanger regional peace efforts, Israel Radio reported.
Abbas added that the excavations demonstrated Israel's intentions to destroy holy Islamic sites, according to the radio.
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday said the excavation has 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," the monarch was quoted by the state news agency Petra as saying.
"These measures will only create an atmosphere that will not at all help in the success of efforts being undertaken to restore the peace process," the monarch said.
"This is a dangerous escalation we have seen in the last few hours ... these works and excavations pose a threat to the foundations of al-Aqsa," he added
Police on Tuesday arrested four Muslim worshipers who threw stones at the Israel Antiquities Authority excavation underneath Mugrabi gate in Jerusalem's Old City.
The dig as part of a plan to rebuild the Mugrabi bridge walkway planned to run from the Dung gate to the Mugrabi gate, which serves as the primary entrance to the compound referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as al-Haram al-Sherif, the Noble Sanctuary.
The digging will use smaller excavating tools, and will be supervised by a team of archaeologists. The excavations are intended to strengthen the support columns of the Mugrabi bridge.
The four additional columns to be built will be located on the grounds of the "Archaeological Garden" next to the Dung Gate.
If you look at the picture the work is being done on the small wooden bridge at the lower right of the picture.
What this has to do with the Temple Mount is beyond me. This is just one more attempt by Islam to remove any claim to or rights regarding the Temple Mount. This is no different that when Yasser Arafat claimed the Jewish Temple built by Solomon was actually not located in Jerusalem but rather about 60 miles north of Jerusalem.
To me it all ties in with the fight over the biblical heartland of Israel which today is called the west bank. For Muslims feel if they can destroy the Jewish ties to Judea and Samaria (west bank) then we the Jews will have a weakened claim over the rest of Israel.
So if the Arabs want to riot and start one more intifada, I say let them riot and then let the IDF and Police respond with force. Enough of these threats.
