A theory exists that Sept. 11 was the consequence of now Israel President Ariel Sharon’s September 2000 walk through Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
As the first anniversary of Sept. 11 nears, part of the wall of Jerusalem’s most hotly contested holy site, is in imminent danger of collapse.
There is a 10-metre-wide bulge in the wall holding up the southeastern corner of the mosque compound, built on the site of the Biblical Jewish Temples. Israelis know the raised mosque platform as the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, the western wall of the Temple, is not affected by the bulge. In the event of collapse, some of the massive stone blocks lining the Al Aqsa Mosque compound are in danger of crashing down on worshippers.
"There are serious grounds for the apprehension that it could collapse," Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem’s Mayor told Israel Radio, last week. "In my view we have reached the moment of truth."
British archeologist Shimon Gibson said the bulge in the wall came from excavations on the Israeli side and by work on the Palestine side, when both removed vital supporting soil.
There is concern that a collapse might set off a cataclysm of Mideast violence because of the sensitivity of the shrine as a key holy site and a political tinderbox that yet defies solution. Much less issues concerning the site have triggered violence.
With the wall in danger of collapse, the risk would be maximized during the Muslin holy month of Ramadan, when tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to crowd into the mosque compound. Ramadan begins in November this year.
If the specter of the precarious state of the bulging wall isn’t worry enough, its stability is further challenged by earthquake tremors.
Al Aqsa, which like the rest of Jerusalem, is located in the earthquake-prone African Rift Valley Region, has been destroyed by earthquakes seven times since it was built by the city’s first Muslim conquerors in the seventh century. New construction has weakened the structure, so that a tremour could well compound the damage.
Apprehensions of the collapse of the wall surfaced in the establishment media only last week.
Dr. Randall Smith, a Jerusalem-based archeologist, interviewed by Dr.Charles McVety, of Toronto’s Canada Christian College, was predicting the collapse of the wall last November.
Smith, whose home is located within a few feet of the Temple Mount, was interviewed by McVety and colleague Rondo Thomas for their weekly television show, World.ca, telecast 9 p.m. Saturday nights on Vision Television.
> "Dr. Smith lives with the Temple Mount everyday," McVety told Canada Free Press. "As of last November, 20 bullets had hit his outside verandah, with four of the bullets coming into his bedroom."
McVety, who has written a book about Temple Mount, says he has known for some time that excavations continue all around the south wall.
"For whatever reason, the mainline media don’t want to report these things.
"When we interviewed Dr. Smith last November it was only a couple of months after the tragedies of Sept. 11.
The Palestinian mufti of Jerusalem and Sheikh Salah echo Palestian leader Yasser Arafat’s assertion that the Temple Mount, including the Western Wall is a Muslim site and no Jewish temples ever existed. (BPN) (News Report Archives www.hrpazo.net/forzion).
While at least two major religions claim the site as their own, the Jerusalem wall is recognized in the secular world as one of the most important locations in world history.
Latter day battles staged at the site are as biblical, in terms of proportion, as its rich and ancient history.
The tunnel riots of 1969 saw the deaths of 70 Palestinians and 17 Israeli soldiers. The tunnel rifts were about the opening of a tunnel along the Temple’s Complex Wall to Muslim quarters.
King Solomon built the first temple more than 3,000 years ago. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E., but 70 years later Jews returning from exile built the second temple on the same site. King Herod the Great refurbished it into an edifice of great splendour.
In Muslim tradition, the place is also identified as the "furthermost sanctuary" (Arabic masjed al-aksa at which the Prophet Mohammed, accompanied by the Angel Gabriel, made the Night Journey to the Throne of God. (The Koran, Sura Al-Isra 17:1),
"Israel is in a difficult predicament concerning the Temple Mount," states an article in The Jewish Magazine, "After it had conquered Jerusalem’s Old City in 1967 and become sovereign over the Temple Mount, it decided not to change the Status Quo.
"This consists of status about Israel’s Holy Places dating from the Ottoman era. Later regimes have respected it, the English mandate, as well as Jordan that ruled East-Jerusalem and the Old City since 1967.
"The Status Quo says that Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, but admittance is free for everyone. Further, it decides that the Waqf administrate the Temple Mount and its mosque."
When Israelis and the Palestinians seemed on the verge if creating a Palestinian state during Camp David Peace Talks in July, 2000, Yasser Arafat became incensed when it was mentioned that Israelis, as part of negotiations would re-establish their presence on the site.
"I remember watching the talks on television. When access to the Temple Mount was mentioned, Arafat went crazy," said McVety. "He asked `Do you want to attend my funeral?’ `This is a death wish.’
"Even though the negotiations were almost accomplished, they were then over."
The Temple Mount is a tinderbox. Even the most miniscule change at the wall, could be explosive,
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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