Latest News from the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount area of Jerusalem has been in the news again over the past two weeks. Yesterday, The Jerusalem Post reported that, “Police on Tuesday stopped Wakf Muslim trust officials from performing unauthorized construction work on the Temple Mount.” Over the last year, there has been tension between Wakf officials and the Israeli government over Muslim restoration work damage to artifacts on the Temple Mount.

The situation is as complicated as they get in the world of religious politics of the Middle East. The Wakf is the body that administrates the Temple Mount’s daily operations, while the Israeli government is charged with the site’s security. The Wakf maintains that the Temple Mount was not really the site of any Jewish Temples. The Israeli government has a vested interest in preserving the evidence of this being the site of any of the Temples to strengthen their claim on the Mount. The Wakf, has the opposite interest to suppress anything that might prove their claim is wrong.

Tuesday’s police action comes on the heels of a small earthquake that opened a six foot hole by the Dome of the Rock on 17 Feb 2008. The Wakf claims that the Israeli government is secretly tunneling under the Temple Mount. The Muslim Trust says that these secret tunnels weakened the Mount and the hole is a propaganda stunt. Israeli officials deny the claims of tunneling past the Western Wall.

This is a situation that makes me wonder what is really going on with the Temple Mount. If the Israelis are tunneling under the Mount, why are they doing so now? It’s a given that any excavations under the Dome of the Rock would at least revel something of the history of the Temple Mount. For the moment, it seems that the world might never know what lies beneath the one of the most contested spots on Earth.

Jerusalem Tunnels

There’s been quit a bit of news floating around the last few weeks about tunnel systems in Jerusalem. I thought I’d dig up (sorry couldn’t resist that one) some video on the subject. Both pieces are from The Media Line.

Below is a report on the recent discovery of the Second Temple era tunnels that runs under Jerusalem. The tunnels were originally drainage systems that lead outside the city. Archaeologists think that this tunnel system might have been used by Jews to escape the city during the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

The implications of such a tunnel system and theories on Templar excavations under the Temple Mount could be staggering. The reports I’ve seen do not mention exactly where the drainage system leads to. Discovery of Crusader era artifacts would be powerful evidence that the Templars or other groups were interested in what lay beneath Jerusalem. On the flip side, the existence of a bolt hole weakens the argument that anyone would need to hide anything under the Temple Mount during the Roman siege.

Hopefully, the Israeli government will be forthcoming with any additional finds they make in this system. Yea right…



This January 2007 clip explores possible secret excavations in the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock area by the Israeli government. Of course the government denies any involvement with a tunnel digging around the Temple Mount.

Given recent reports that Muslims are destroying items and areas of archaeological significance in the Temple Mount area, a project to tunnel under the Mount doesn’t seem so far fetched. This World Net Daily article reports that the Israeli Antiquities Authority is blocking archaeologists from surveying any damage that might have been done in the area. One would think that the government would want outside investigators to chronicle any antiquities destruction, if for nothing else to discredit the Muslims.

Also, all of this comes on the heels of a plan to give control of the Temple Mount to the Palestinians. One of the points of contention between Jews and Muslims over the Temple Mount is proof that the Temple existed there at all. Giving control of the Mount to Palestinians would be a neat slight of hand trick if there are plans to gather archaeological data right under their feet.