Word: tunnelling
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Hasmonean tunnel, which has existed for roughly 2,500 years, was rediscovered and re-excavated in 1987. At the time, the Muslim religious authority, the Wafk, permitted excavation of the tunnel provided that the excavations did not extend under the Temple Mount (Al-Haram Al-Sharif). Israel adhered to these requests. The excavations have not in any way disturbed any Muslim religious sites, nor does the tunnel run under the Temple Mount as the Palestinian Authority had originally claimed. The only action the Israeli government took last week concerning the tunnel was to open another entrance...
Tadros and Al-Ississ further describe the opening of the tunnel door as a "change [in] the demographic nature of the city," illegal under Geneva Convention laws concerning "occupied territories." This is another ridiculous charge. The tunnel in question has been in place for 25 centuries and opening up its back door does not alter the city's demographics. Secondly, Jerusalem is emphatically not an occupied city. The whole of Jerusalem is the undivided capital of the sovereign state of Israel, as President Clinton himself has affirmed...
Tadrous and Al-Ississ criticize the opening of the tunnel for "undermining the Islamic character of the shrine." Such hysterically paranoid comments have typified the reactions of many. While the tunnel is the literal foundation of the Jewish religion, it is of no relevance to Islam or to the Arab people. Furthermore, there is absolutely no threat whatsoever to Al-Aksa Mosque. Even if this was the intention of the Israeli government, which clearly it is not, aren't there any better ways of "undermining the Islamic character of the shrine" than excavating a 2,000 year-old tunnel alongside...
...fact that the tunnel does not even pass under the mosque renders groundless the claims of the Palestinians that the Israelis are attempting to undermine their religion. The tunnel was clearly a pretext used by the Palestinians as a base from which to launch and ideological battle with the Israelis. In their quest for nationhood, the Palestinian people will be forced to come to terms with the fact that in democratic states problems are solved first through words and not by the sword. The Israeli government has always and will always respect the religious freedom of its minorities, both Muslim...
...great friend of the Jewish State, joined the Arab nations in issuing a strong rebuke for Israel's defending itself. According to The New York Times, Washington called upon both sides not to raise any "new issues." Someone should whisper to Warren Christopher that since parts of the Hasmonean tunnel date back to as early as 2 B.C.E., perhaps the administration's rhetoric should be changed to accommodate the Holy Land's admittedly lengthy history. Secretary Christopher's lack of empathy is symptomatic of the West's lack of understanding of both Jewish and Islamic history. (I recommend Foreign Cultures...