Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02AMMAN7313
2002-12-17 12:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

THE BULGE: JORDANIANS SET TO BEGIN WORK ON

Tags:  KPAL PREL KWBG PBTS IS JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 007313 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2012
TAGS: KPAL PREL KWBG PBTS IS JO
SUBJECT: THE BULGE: JORDANIANS SET TO BEGIN WORK ON
SOUTHERN WALL

REF: JERUSALEM 3629

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASON 1.5 (B)

-------
SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 007313

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2012
TAGS: KPAL PREL KWBG PBTS IS JO
SUBJECT: THE BULGE: JORDANIANS SET TO BEGIN WORK ON
SOUTHERN WALL

REF: JERUSALEM 3629

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASON 1.5 (B)

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Raif Nijem, Vice-President of the GOJ's Restoration
Committee for Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock and the
leader of a Jordanian team sent to study the bulge in the
southern wall of Haram al-Sharif (see Ref),is optimistic
that work can begin the week of December 22 to shore up the
southern wall of the Haram al-Sharif. The real issue,
according to Nijem, is not the bulge, but a number of
cavities in the wall that were detected after five core
samples were taken during the committee's October trip to
Jerusalem. Nijem also expressed frustration with the Israeli
insistence on bypassing the Jerusalem-based Awqaf employees
for a Jordanian-based team to conduct the samples and
restoration. End Summary.

--------------
WALL WILL BE FIXED, POLITICS ASIDE
--------------


2. (C) On December 12, Poloff visited Raif Nijem at his Amman
office and queried him on the results of his study of the
southern wall of Haram al-Sharif. Nijem said his team had
conducted five successful core samples that were roughly 2.4
meters long with a six inch diameter. Nijem was less worried
about the estimated 36cm bulge in the wall than the large
cavities between the inner wall and outer skin where the
binding materials used--mostly lime, coal, and quartz--had
been leeched out by water erosion over the centuries. Of the
five core samples taken, three had cavities, the largest one
being 30 cm deep.


3. (C) Nijem anticipates that work on the wall will begin as
early as the week of December 22 with the initial stage of
injecting a new binding material between the inner and outer
walls. That work, he said, will be done by the Swiss firm
Hilti and will take only about a week to finish. After the
binding material has stabilized the wall, the plan is to
repair the individual stones of a section of the southern
wall that would likely take 1-2 months. Nijem told Poloff
that the Israeli side had agreed to the restoration plan and
the use of Hilti to complete the first part of the
restoration.


4. (C) While Nijem complimented the Israelis at the working
level--specifically mentioning the cooperation of Col. Nisso
Shacha and Yoran Oahyon--he urged Poloff to intercede with
the Israelis on behalf of the Jerusalem-based Awqaf team,
whom the Israelis would not allow to work on the survey.
Nijem was concerned that the Israelis would not allow the
team to work on the restoration of the wall, which will
require painstaking stone by stone repairs. He argued the
Jerusalem team had many years of work experience on the Haram
al-Sharif and was best suited and situated for the work.


5. (C) Nijem was also frustrated by the politicization of the
issue, criticizing mostly the Israeli press for blowing the
issue of the bulge out of proportion. "One article claimed
the bulge was one meter and blamed the Awqaf for it"
according to Nijem. As reftel noted, Nijem told Poloff about
the Israeli attempts to monitor work on the wall via a video
camera mounted about 100 meters away. Nijem also dismissed
Palestinian claims that Israeli excavations conducted in 1968
had caused the bulge. However, he did point out that the
excavations had exposed more of the wall to weather and will
necessitate more restoration work in the future.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


6. (C) Per reftel, Nijem alluded to no dispute between the PA
and the GOJ for control of the Waqf, but reaffirmed that the
Hashemites--as descendants of Mohammad--have divine
authority, so to speak, over Jerusalem's holy sites. "The
Saudis oversee Mecca and Medina, but the Hashemites oversee
al-Aqsa." (Note: Article 9, para 2, of the 1994
Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty also specifies that "Israel
respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan in the Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem. When
negotiating on the permanent status will take place, Israel
will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in the
shrines." End Note.) More engineer than politician, Nijem
would like to see the Jerusalem-based Waqf more actively
involved in the wall's many restoration needs, primarily for
technical and logistical reasons, but clearly decisions on
the wall and its environs will continue to be made from
Amman, not Ramallah.
GNEHM