Forwarded by Posy McMillen, Fort Worth (USA), with the following note :
More propaganda to stir the Arabs up, yet none of them bother to validate all these accusations. Minor detail, I guess. If this is true why not take journalists underground to video these tunnels.
FYI: The Arabs have themselves been excavating under the Temple Mount - - this is what has caused the bulge in the southern wall around the Temple Mount retaining wall. I guess they figure this is something they can blame the Israelis for, and the world will be dumb enough to believe.
The Jerusalem Times, 30 October, 2001
It is no coincidence that the Israelis, especially the so-called Committee against Destroying Remnants on Al-Aqsa Campus, are making noises concerning what they call the 'destruction of remnants' in the area of Al-Aqsa. What is actually happening beneath Al-Aqsa and around it, however, is an intensified Israeli effort, described by Najeh Afana, president of Al-Aqsa Heritage Committee, as the most threatening since Jerusalem was occupied in 1967.
Said Afana, "The Israelis always come up with lies to keep up busy and create new realities in secret." As president of the Heritage Committee, Afana has witnessed most of the Israeli work beneath and around the campus and other Israeli measures that altered the face of the Holy City. The most serious bit of information revealed by Afana is the digging of four tunnels underneath the ground in the Old City, which begun around three years ago. He explained, "There are four parallel tunnels connecting a warren of burrows. One tunnel extends from Jaffa Gate to Dung Gate, affording passage to Al-Buraq tunnel, known to the Israelis as 'Hashmonaim'. Another tunnel travels from Dung Gate to Herod's Gate, a third goes from Dung Gate to the Silwan Brook, and the fourth begins at Lion's Gate and reaches the Hebrew University.
"The four tunnels are meant to create a metro-like system to enable the Israelis to tighten their grip on the city. The digging will also weaken structures in the area and ultimately cause them to collapse in anticipation of the greater cause, namely, building a Jewish temple. We may awaken one day to find that they have seized a large part of Al-Aqsa, the Marwani prayer hall."
The Other Jerusalem
Afana insisted that work currently underway beneath the ground in Jerusalem is paving the way for the Israelis to build a 'new' Jerusalem. "They have already finished 25 percent of the 'other' Jerusalem. They ultimately plan to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque and especially the area of the Dome of the Rock, where a group of underground wells that have been turned into tunnels exists."
The president of the Heritage Committee continued, saying that digging has not yet reached Al-Aqsa but is halfway to the center of the courtyard. "If they are able to control the Marwani prayer hall, they would be able to cover that area very quickly."
The Southern Wall
The Israelis recently raised concern about the southern wall of Al-Aqsa, warning that it may collapse. Resident architect on the campus of Al-Aqsa, Isam Awwad, replied to Israeli warnings by saying that the construction unit at the Islamic Endowments Directorate is watching the wall closely.
Said Afana, "I personally monitor what happens in Jerusalem. The slight damage to the surface of the southern wall was caused by a structural glitch. There was a mosque in that area with a niche known as the Daoud Niche. A document said of the mosque, 'If the wind blows fiercely, move the niche to the covered area of Al-Aqsa and keep it there'. Approximately 450 years ago an earthquake destroyed that mosque; when it was rebuilt, the wall was not built properly, explaining the damage, which is non-threatening."
Afana believes in the value of keeping the Israelis busy with their own measures concerning Al-Aqsa, putting them on the defensive instead of keeping the Palestinians busy defending attempts to undertake renovation efforts they are entitled to carry out.
"I call on all Arabs and Muslims to enlighten the other side in regard to the violations against us. I must not hold a press conference to raise the issue of the southern wall, but to demand that the Israelis leave Jerusalem and remove the five checkpoints erected inside Lion's Gate and the police center there. Even our graves at Al-Rahma Cemetery have been removed to make way for [Jerusalem Mayor Ehud] Olmert. I have seen the Israelis face Al-Aqsa in their prayers. We must awaken and establish a clear strategy with short- and long-term objectives that aim to free Al Aqsa of all foreign control and liberate Jerusalem and many of our buildings and schools."
Waterways
Regarding the tunnels already existing beneath Al-Aqsa campus, Afana said, "The tunnels are in fact ancient Roman aqueducts being broadened. There are maps that clearly show the aqueducts beneath the Old City. In addition, history books show a natural pathway at Daoud's Castle that leads to Dung Gate."
Afana did not conceal his concern for Al-Aqsa, describing the threat to it as "real" and more serious than ever before. Over the 24 years I have spent working at Al-Aqsa I have never known it to be in so much danger as it is right now. Just look at the difficulties we are facing in trying to renovate Al-Aqsa. The Israelis confiscate building materials headed for Al-Aqsa from time to time and place very stringent conditions on construction. In addition, they have made sure that the number of worshippers has ebbed from tens of thousands to no more than 15,000 at times.
"It would be naive to say that things at Al-Aqsa are well. In fact, the situation is very bad and the condition of the mosque is far from satisfactory. There is a scheme to appropriate the mosque, which is no longer implied but explicitly stated by Ariel Sharon.
"I am not saying the Israelis are going to control Al-Aqsa soon, but they will find a foothold in it, most likely the Marwani prayer hall. The plan calls for issuing military orders of some sort under scientific or archaeological pretenses then awaiting or causing a collapse or structural damage, which would lead them to open the entrances to the prayer hall and explain their presence in it. We must think and plan ahead and must raise issues other than the Marwani hall, such as the issue of the Faisal Gate and what is happening there and also Al-Omariyyeh. We must resist attempts to create new realities on the campus of the Noble Sanctuary."
Al-Awda Magazine
