Israel hampers report on Aqsa excavations

[ 02/08/2010 - 09:57 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation government seeks to undermine the work of auditor Micha Lindenstrauss, who prepared a report about Israeli excavations under the Aqsa Mosques in Jerusalem, and has taken steps to stop its publication.

The report covers serious violations practiced by Israel during excavations under the Aqsa Mosque, which ended in the discovery of a large tunnel underneath to extend power lines to the floor resulting in damage to monuments in the area.

According to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, the excavations led to obliteration and damage of monuments in the Aqsa Mosque area and damage to the archaeological strata of the mosque.

The Israeli auditor completed the report about two months ago, but was not able to publish it until now because of pressure. The Hebrew daily said Sunday that huge pressures were exerted and remain over the auditor so as not to disclose the report’s details, for fear of the effects it will have on Israeli security forces and its foreign relations and an outbreak of confrontations in wake of its publication.

“Even today no investigation was opened about the destruction of monuments in the Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the planning and construction law violations,” the Israeli auditing commission said, noting that hundreds of excavation, construction, and demolition projects were carried out in the vicinity of the Aqsa Mosque by illegal parties and means.

Haaretz quoted one informed source from the committee as saying: “There is great pressure to stop the publication of the report, and these pressures do not stem from security logic alone, but from the logic of hiding Zionist failures in their treatment of the occupied Aqsa Mosque.”

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