Since March, 1968, the Israeli authorities have engaged a Jewish archaeological team for excavations under, and around, Al Aqsa Mosque with the object of finding traces of the Jewish Temple. They introduced in the Haram Al-Sherif (Noble Sanctuary) area large digging and earth-moving equipment and made excavations in many parts of the sacred area. They dug tunnels beneath the foundations of Al Aqsa Mosque.
On September 8, 1981, Ambassador Hazem Nusseibeh of Jordan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations regarding the continued Israeli excavations and the claims of finds announced on August 25, 1981. In the letter he said that “the latest clandestine Israeli descriptions have reached a stage where the Al Aqsa Mosque is presently in danger of total collapse. The Mufti of Jerusalem…has described these dangerous diggings as blatant desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque.”
The destruction or collapse of the 1,350-year-old Mosque would constitute a crime against humanity and the historic landmarks preserved under UNESCO. “The collapse of this holy sanctuary would be nothing less than a cultural, political and spiritual genocide against this legacy and its innermost and immortal soul,” the letter said.
Dr. Nusseibeh sent attached documents with the letter which was circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and Security Council.
These included:
Chronology of the most important occupation attempts
1.First phase: Extensive diggings were carried out on an area of 70 square meters under the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (1967-1968)
2.Second phase: In 1969, the diggings exceeded an area of 80 square meters adjacent to the wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. These ongoing diggings caused a serious undermining of the adjacent building. Subsequently, the entire Magharbah quarter was demolished
3.Third phase: The diggings in 1970 resulted in serious cracks in the foundations of the Ottoman Mosque (Ribat Al-Kurd), and the Jawhiriya School
4.Fourth phase: Diggings (1972-1974) behind the wall of Al Aqsa Mosque and extending across the southern wall of the Mosque and under the Mihrab pulpit and beneath the Mosque of Omar
5.Fifth phase: The diggings in the middle of the eastern side of the wall near the Golden Gate, where those diggings inflicted extensive damage upon an ancient Islamic cemetery near the site
6.Sixth phase: An expansion of the area of the Wailing Wall designed to destroy all the buildings in the area surrounding the Wailing Wall. An Israeli Ministerial Committee endorsed in 1977 the implementation of this plan, which includes the demolition of several Islamic historic buildings, including the Old Islamic Shari’s Court, the Tankinazia School, the Khalidiya Library, a charitable Zawiya (corner) and the Abu-Midian ancient Mosque
7.Seventh phase: The most ominous and menacing of these continuous diggings started when the occupation authorities declared on August, 27 1981 that they had discovered a tunnel beneath the Wailing Wall and the holy Dome of the Rock, which extends through these and beneath the foundations of Al Aqsa Mosque. The occupation authorities alleged that this tunnel had been discovered a month before the discovery was announced. But that the announcement had been withheld and kept secret after informing the two Chief Rabbis of Israel as well as the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Defense Minister
The Israeli officials visited the area and requested that the matter remained shrouded in secrecy. However, the news reached the world media which compelled the Ministry of education to stop the diggings and to close the tunnel in order to avoid far-reaching Islamic reactions.
However, the diggings did not in fact stop and were resumed when the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision on 4 September which revoked the decision of the Minister of Education and permitted a resumption and completion of the diggings, which were resumed on 6 September.
Source: Encyclopedia of Palestine Problem by Issa Nakhleh.
