Thursday February 18, 2010 06:07
by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies
The al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage reported that the Israeli authorities started new excavations under the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The foundation stated that most of the digging is now concentrated in Bad Al Amoud (Damascus Gate) and Bab Al Sahera (also known as Herod's Gate), in the Old City of Jerusalem. It added that the digging is part of Israel’s plan of a network of tunnels under the Old City and the al-Aqsa Mosque. It warned that the digging is part of Israel’s plans to wipe out the Arab and Islamic history in Jerusalem, and the efforts to “construct their claimed temple under the al-Aqsa Mosque”.
In related news, a group of fundamentalist settlers broke into the al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday using the Moghrabi Gate. The settlers were accompanied by Israeli soldiers and policemen, the foundation said.
The settlers provoked Muslim worshipers and prevented them and the guards of the mosque from entering certain areas, and threatened to harm them.
Also on Wednesday, the family of Qadri Shahin, in the Old City, complained to the Israeli police in Jerusalem, that one of the machines used in the excavations caused a hole in a wall in their home, adjacent to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
Um Mohammad Shahin, said that her children found the hole in their room after seeing a digging tool being pulled out of their wall.
Qadri Shahin said that the family fears that the digging will cause the collapse of their home as it also caused a crack in its wall, undermining the foundations of the building.
