Will the Temple Mount Collapse During Ramadan?

Yesterday the prime minister was asked to decide, in a secret meeting, in the matter of the southern part of the Temple Mount wall, due to fear that the Temple Mount will collapse when hundreds of thousands worshippers gather for Ramadan prayers.

The meeting took place yesterday morning in Sharon’s bureau, even before he left for Russia, with the participation of Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem District Commander Mickey Levy, a GSS Jerusalem district representative, and the director general of the Antiquities Authority, Shuka Dorfman.

The participants dealt with the question of the bulge in the southern wall, which has reached a meter beyond the wall. According to experts’ assessments, there is a danger of the wall collapsing if it is not taken care of immediately. If the wall collapses, the entire Temple Mount could collapse.

The urgency of the meeting was due to the fact that the month of Ramadan, which will take place in another month, will bring hundreds of thousands of worshippers to the mount. During Friday prayers on Ramadan, when worshippers from the territories are allowed in, about 400,000 worshippers come to the mount. When there is a closure on the territories, the number of worshippers reaches 200,000.

Interior Ministry and police officials are aware of the awful scenario of a collapse of the mount, with hundreds of thousands of worshippers. A senior security establishment official called it, the “Third World War.”

The point of departure for yesterday’s discussion was that Israel will have to pay the price, regardless of whatever decision is taken.

“If a decision is made that Israel renovate the wall, without the Wakf’s consent,” said an Israeli official, “this will lead to bloody riots in Israel and the territories. And if the Temple Mount area collapses with all the worshippers, the results will be ten times worse. We will be faulted in either case.”

The discussion also explored the idea of limiting the number of worshippers during the month of Ramadan, while declaring the Temple Mount a dangerous site, and the ramifications of such a declaration. Another danger threatening the Temple Mount, besides the number of worshippers, could occur this coming winter, with the accumulation of rain and snow causing the wall to fall.

An opinion by the Antiquities Authority confirms the fear that the southern wall is in danger of collapse. The government has not allowed the Antiquities Authority to enter the internal part of the southern wall to complete a survey meant to assess the extent of the danger.

In an interview to Ma’ariv, Ofer Cohen, preservation engineer of the Antiquities Authority, confirmed the fear: “We are warning that the wall in this area could collapse very soon. The collapse is visible to the eye, and is backed by expert opinion.”

The swelling of the southern wall occurred as a result of the expansion of Solomon’s Stables, the space under el- Aksa, and turning the space into a covered mosque with room for 10,000 worshippers. The Committee to Prevent the Destruction of Antiquities, which is monitoring the Wakf’s construction activity, appealed to the prime minister with a request to give instructions to renovate the wall before a disaster occurs.

“The swelling in the wall has reached serious proportions of between 50 and 100 centimeters, and continues to enlarge in a manner obvious to the eye, to the point of collapse of the southern wall,” said the last memorandum published by the committee. “Both on the Israeli side and in the Wakf there is agreement that the Wall should be dismantled and rebuilt, but the disagreement regarding the question of who should be responsible for the renovation is the cause in the delay in carrying out the operation.”

This article ran in Maariv on September 29, 2002