WAQF ADMINISTRATOR: EXCAVATIONS AT HARAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000266

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR
WILLIAMS/SHAMPAINE/BELGRADE; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PBTS KHUM KWBG KPAL IS
SUBJECT: WAQF ADMINISTRATOR: EXCAVATIONS AT HARAM
AL-SHARIF/TEMPLE MOUNT

REF: A. JERUSALEM 252

B. TEL AVIV 441

CLASSIFIED BY: CONSUL GENERAL JAKE WALLES, PER REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: THE CONSUL GENERAL MET WITH WAQF
ADMINISTRATOR ADNAN HUSSEINI, GRAND MUFTI MOHAMMED HUSSEIN
AND SHEIKH ABDEL AZIZ SALHAB FEBRUARY 8 TO DISCUSS THE
MUGHRABI GATE RAMP TO THE HARAM AL-SHARIF/TEMPLE MOUNT.
HUSSEINI SAID THE GOI HAD NOT COORDINATED WITH THE WAQF ON
THIS PROJECT. HUSSEINI AND SALHAB ALSO DENIED PRESS REPORTS
CLAIMING THAT THE WAQF WAS PART OF A DECISION TO DELAY THE
WORK BY ONE WEEK TO ALLOW INSTALLATION OF A NEW MINBAR TO THE
AL AQSA MOSQUE. HUSSEINI SAID HE FEARS THAT REMOVAL OF THE
DIRT FROM THE OLD RAMP AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW RAMP COULD
DAMAGE THE ROOMS ADJACENT TO THE WALL UNDER THE HARAM/TEMPLE
MOUNT AND ALLOW ISRAELI ACCESS BELOW THE GATE INTO THE AREA
UNDERNEATH THE HARAM/TEMPLE MOUNT. APPROXIMATELY 150 PEOPLE
PROTESTED ON FEBRUARY 8 OUTSIDE THE DUNG GATE (THE OLD CITY
GATE CLOSEST TO THE MUGHRABI GATE RAMP). HUSSEINI SAID HE
EXPECTS IMAMS THROUGHOUT THE ARAB WORLD WILL ADDRESS THE
ISSUE DURING FRIDAY PRAYERS ON FEBRUARY 9, AND HE FEARS AN
OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE. THE GOI AGREED FEBRUARY 8 TO HALT
CONSTRUCTION WORK FOR TWO DAYS (REFTEL B),AND HUSSEINI
CONFIRMED THAT NO WORK WAS ONGOING FEBRUARY 9 AND THAT TWO OF
THE FOUR BULLDOZERS HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SITE. END
SUMMARY.

HUSSEINI: NO COORDINATION, CONCERNS ABOUT VIOLENCE
-------------- --------------


2. (C) ADNAN HUSSEINI, ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE WAQF, DENIED
DURING A FEBRUARY 8 MEETING WITH THE CONSUL GENERAL THAT THE
WAQF THE GOI HAD COORDINATED WITH THE WAQF ON THE EXCAVATIONS
AT THE MUGHRABI GATE RAMP. HE SAID THAT IT IS "NOT TRUE"
THAT THE WAQF WAS INVOLVED A DECISION TO DELAY THE PROJECT BY
ONE WEEK TO ALLOW THE INSTALLATION OF THE NEW MINBAR. (NOTE:
JORDANIAN KING ABDULLAH PROVIDED THE MINBAR TO REPLACE THE
ONE GIVEN BY SALAH EDDIN BUT DESTROYED BY AN ARSONIST IN
1969.) HUSSEINI SPECULATED THE CONSTRUCTION MAY HAVE BEEN
TIMED TO EMBARRASS KING ABDULLAH. HE ALSO CAST DOUBT ON GOI
CLAIMS THAT IT HAD COORDINATED WITH UNESCO, WHICH HUSSEINI
SAYS HAS NOT BEEN ALLOWED TO SEND OBSERVERS INTO THE OLD CITY
SINCE 1997.


3. (C) HUSSEINI SAID HE IS CONCERNED THAT THE EXCAVATIONS AND
CONSTRUCTION COULD DAMAGE ROOMS LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE
PERIMETER WALL OF HARAM/TEMPLE MOUNT. HE ALSO EXPRESSED
CONCERNS THAT THE WORK WILL ALLOW ISRAELI ACCESS BELOW THE
GATE TO THE AREA UNDERNEATH THE HARAM/TEMPLE MOUNT. HUSSEINI
SAID THAT THE SERMONS FOR FRIDAY PRAYERS FEBRUARY 9
THROUGHOUT THE ARAB WORLD WOULD DEAL WITH THE ISSUE OF THE
EXCAVATIONS, AND THAT HE FEARED VIOLENCE IF THE EXCAVATIONS
CONTINUED. GRAND MUFTI HUSSEIN COMMENTED THAT SHARON'S VISIT
(IN 2000, WHICH PRECEDED THE START OF THE SECOND INTIFADA)
HAD LASTED ONLY 40 MINUTES. "WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS WILL DO?"

SITE VISIT
--------------


4. (C) FOLLOWING THE CONSUL GENERAL'S MEETING, POLOFF
VISITED THE EXCAVATION SITE AND WALKED DOWN THE ORIGINAL
EARTHEN AND WOODEN RAMPS. (DIGITAL PICTURES NEA/IPA.) THERE
WAS A SIGNIFICANT ISRAELI POLICE PRESENCE SURROUNDING THE
EXCAVATION SITE, AND POLOFF OBSERVED THAT HUSSEINI WAS
PREVENTED FROM EXITING THE HARAM/TEMPLE MOUNT VIA THE
MUGHRABI GATE. PER REF A, THE PLANNED NEW RAMP WOULD REPLACE
THE WOODEN STRUCTURE BUILT IN FEBRUARY OF 2005 AFTER
TORRENTIAL RAINS COLLAPSED PART OF THE EARTHEN RAMP. IT
WOULD BE 200 METERS LONG AND WOULD EXTEND FROM THE MUGHRABI
GATE TO NEAR THE DUNG GATE.


5. (C) DANNY SEIDEMANN, FOUNDER OF THE ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS
NGO IR AMIN, TOLD POLOFF FEBRUARY 8 THAT HE EXPECTED A RULING
FROM ATTORNEY GENERAL MENACHEM MAZUZ ON HIS APPEAL TO STOP
THE EXCAVATIONS ON FEBRUARY 11. SEIDEMANN SAID THE BUILDING
PERMIT FOR THE MUGHRABI GATE RAMP WAS GRANTED ILLEGALLY AND
THAT HE WROTE MAZUZ ASKING THAT THE EXCAVATION AND
CONSTRUCTION BE STOPPED. THE GOI AGREED FEBRUARY 8 TO HALT
EXCAVATIONS FOR TWO DAYS (REFTEL B),AND HUSSEINI CONFIRMED
THAT NO WORK WAS ONGOING FEBRUARY 9. HE SAID TWO OF THE FOUR
BULLDOZERS HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SITE, AND THE REMAINING
TWO WERE MOVED SLIGHTLY OFF OF THE ORIGINAL RAMP. HE HAS
DESIGNATED A WAQF EMPLOYEE TO MONITOR THE RAMP FOR SIGNS OF
RENEWED WORK.



6. (C) COMMENT: POLOFF (WHO HAS A GRADUATE DEGREE IN
ARCHAEOLOGY) OBSERVED THAT THE EXCAVATIONS MAY AFFECT THE
STABILITY OF THAT PORTION OF THE HARAM/TEMPLE MOUNT WALL.
PRIOR TO 1967, THE WALL WAS EFFECTIVELY BRACED BY THE HOMES
OF THE MOROCCAN QUARTER, WHICH THE ISRAELIS DESTROYED IN 1967
TO CREATE THE WESTERN WALL PLAZA, AND BY THE EARTH THAT
ACCUMULATED OVER THIRTEEN CENTURIES TO THE LEVEL OF THE
MUGHRABI GATE IN THE AREA BETWEEN THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE
MOROCCAN QUARTER AND THE OLD CITY WALL. MOST OF THE SOIL AT
THE SOUTHERN END WAS REMOVED IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING 1967 TO
EXPOSE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS OF FIVE 8TH CENTURY STRUCTURES
TO CREATE AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK NEXT TO THE HARAM/TEMPLE
MOUNT. A SMALL AMOUNT OF EARTH WAS LEFT IN PLACE TO FORM THE
75-METER LONG RAMP TO THE MUGHRABI GATE AND THAT EARTH LIKELY
AT LEAST PARTIALLY SUPPORTS THE WALL. EXCAVATIONS IN
PREPARATION FOR A NEW RAMP WOULD REMOVE THAT EARTH.

WALLES