Jerusalem Archives - Page 149 of 195

Gag Order on Temple Mount Report

A gag order is being maintained on a sensitive state comptroller’s report believed to blast the lack of Israeli oversight on the Temple Mount, but most of the report is expected to be cleared for publication before the Knesset reconvenes in mid-October, The Jerusalem Post was told Tuesday. The report, which discusses Israel’s authority on the Temple Mount, including governmental oversight of excavations and construction on the site, is viewed as highly sensitive for diplomatic and security reasons, and the first Knesset debate on the report was held Tuesday behind closed doors. The report probes, among other bodies, the performance of the Jerusalem Municipality, the Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Police in enforcing laws and regulations pertaining to the site, as well as the roles of the attorney-general and respective prime ministers in confronting and shaping policy in the face of the challenges posed by the site in recent years. MKs who read the report described it as “all-encompassing” and “very serious”, but noted that the report only concerns the performance of governmental bodies covered within the mandate of the State Comptroller’s Office. The report does not examine the activities of non-governmental bodies, except regarding official bodies’ responses to their actions. “The report revealed many problems that cannot be accepted in a democratic state that tries to prevent – by law – the destruction of a cultural site that is significant, as a world cultural site and a Jewish one,” said MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima), who heads the State Control Committee subcommittee on security, foreign affairs and international trade relations, which was tasked with reviewing the report.

The full story is here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

There are reports of bulldozer work being carried out on the Temple Mount.

Current excavations at Shiloh are noted in this Arutz-7 article. The article itself says very little, but the photos indicate that the work is being carried out in Area C, where archaeologists previously uncovered a series of Iron I buildings (from the time of Samuel).

Israeli officials are denying claims that the Jordan River is so polluted it is unsafe for baptism.

A student recounts her experience in the final season of excavations at Tel Kedesh in the Upper Galilee.

The Daily Star (Lebanon) has an update on recent finds in the 12th season of excavations at Sidon. A one-minute telecast in Arabic shows the work in progress and some of the finds.

Haaretz carries a longer story on how recent excavations of the Jaffa Gate have apparently changed everything. There are some problems with the article, however, and you might wait to revise your book (or your class notes) until the excavators publish their report. Take note, as well, of Leen Ritmeyer’s analysis of the article.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Galilee, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Samaria, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

The renewed campus of the Israel Museum was inaugurated yesterday, as reported in articles in the Jerusalem Post and Arutz-7. I don’t like the idea that the amount of display space has doubled but fewer items are on display.

A report at Device Magazine has some additional details about the cuneiform fragments found at Hazor. They date to the 18th-17th centuries and include the words “master,” “slave,” and possibly “tooth.” It is not clear whether the tablet was written at Hazor or brought to the site from somewhere else. The article (and a similar one at Arutz-7) includes photos.

The current excavations of Megiddo are profiled in this Jerusalem Post article. The team had the privilege recently of hosting Lord and Lady Allenby.

The Galilean synagogue discovered this summer at Horvat Kur is the subject of a brief article published by the university excavating the site.

The Second Qumran Institute Symposium will be held October 21-22, 2010 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The subject is “The Jewish War agaist Rome (66-70/74): Interdisciplinary Perspectives.” Nearly all of the lectures are in English and most sound quite interesting.

Chris McKinny has posted some aerial photos of Tel Burna and labeled some of the observable features on the surface. What a dream to have a site without later periods “in the way.” Chris’s wife
Mindy has some nice photos of the recent excavation of Burna.

The excavations of a temple at Tel Tayinat in Turkey are profiled by the Ottawa Citizen.

A Brazilian mega-church is building a $200 million replica of Solomon’s temple, although unlike the original, this will seat 10,000 people.

HT: Paleojudaica and Joe Lauer

Tagged Dead Sea, Galilee, Jerusalem, Shephelah, Temple Mount

Fire in Jerusalem Hills

A fire started by teenage hikers has destroyed 250 acres in the forested area west of Jerusalem, reports the Jerusalem Post.

Several teenagers were taken in for questioning in connection with a fire near the capital’s southwestern edge that destroyed 1,000 dunams (100 hectares) of forest, forced the partial evacuation of the moshavim of Ora, Aminadav and Even Sapir, and came close to doing the same for Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem police announced on Sunday night.
According to a police spokesman, students from a haredi school in the Jerusalem area were hiking near Ein Hamdak, inside the Aminadav Forest. Some of the students were apparently playing with fire and started the blaze, which got out of control. The group then allegedly left the scene and continued toward Jerusalem before being found by detectives from the Moriya District.

The full story is here. The Haaretz story is here.

Even Sapir, one of the towns threatened

UPDATE (7/26): A resident of Even Sapir has written that this moshav was not evacuated, contrary to media reports. The JPost article linked to above now reports that the first fire and a second one at Khirbet Sa’adim are both under control and evacuated residents are returning.

Tagged Jerusalem

Israel Museum Director Interviewed

The Media Line interviews James Snyder on the eve of the re-opening of the Israel Museum. Here’s a portion:

Well, it’s an amazing thing. Jerusalem is a unique city in that it’s built from its own bedrock, as we all know. So the Israel Museum, clad in Jerusalem stone but built of glass, steel and other materials, sits on a hilltop that is Jerusalem stone and we actually excavated 1,000,0000 cubic feet of Jerusalem stone so as to order the plan and reengineer the plan within the original and preexisting envelope of the campus. The changes, in a way, that we made are surgical. When we are all finished, you will see and feel the aura of the essence of the original modernist idea of this place as a modernist that is modern backdrop for showing the history of material culture from the start of time to the present moment. It’s a curious thing. It’s a thrilling thing. Now, as you arrive here, we have formalized the entry. We have made a more clear path from the front of the campus to the heart of the campus. But now, unlike before, you will stand at the heart of the museum and you will be able to turn around 360 degrees and you will see the entrances to our collections for archaeology; Jewish art and life; the Western fine art traditions; the non-Western fine art traditions; our main auditorium; and our main temporary exhibitions galleries—all in a main 360 degree turn from the heart of the museum, from a place we now call the Cardo.

The full interview is here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Museums

Poll: Half of Israelis Want Temple Rebuilt

I would not have predicted these results. I know that polls are sometimes skewed by the way the questions are asked, but it’s not clear to me what factors might have been involved here. In my experience, only a small percentage has any interest in the temple in Jerusalem. From Arutz-7:

Half the Israeli public wants the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) to be rebuilt. This is the main finding of a poll commissioned by the Knesset Television Channel and carried out by the Panels Institute. The poll was taken in advance of this Tuesday’s national day of mourning, known as Tisha B’Av, on which the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, 2,000 and 2,500 years ago, respectively. Forty nine percent said they want the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, while 23% said they do not. The remainder said they were unsure. The public is about evenly split on whether they believe it will happen, with a slight edge – 42% to 39% – to those who believe the Third Holy Temple will be rebuilt. Should the State of Israel take active steps towards the reconstruction? Forty-eight percent said no, while 27% said yes.

The story continues here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount