Police stop Islamic work on Temple Mt.
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 4, 2008
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Police on Tuesday stopped Wakf Muslim trust officials from performing
unauthorized construction work on the Temple Mount.

Officers blocked workers from continuing unauthorized "surfacing word," said
Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco. "It is our duty to ensure that
the status quo is maintained on the Temple Mount."

He said Wakf officials had planned to carry out the work as a result of the
tensions in east Jerusalem over the recent violence in the Gaza Strip and
that the unusual police intervention sparked opposition on the holy site.

According to decades-old regulations, Israel maintains overall security
control at the site, while the Wakf is charged with day-to-day
administration.

Independent Israeli archeologists have long charged Islamic officials with
destruction of antiquities at the site and blamed the government and the
Antiquities Authority for turning a blind eye due to the political
sensitivities involved.

Antiquities Authority spokeswoman Yoli Shwartz said Tuesday that the police
had alerted the Authority about the issue, and that it would be "examined"
in the coming days.

Palestinian Authority Jerusalem Affairs Minister Adnan Husseini said police
stopped the "restoration work" of "deteriorated tiles" on the northern side
of the Temple Mount.

"They are not digging or doing anything there but restoration," Husseini
said.

Franco said that maintaining Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, including
its Temple Mount, were "top police goals."

To that end, Franco said, police worked to keep the Temple Mount open to
people all of faiths over the last year, after years when restrictions were
imposed on Jewish and Christian visits due to concerns over Palestinian
violence there.

More than 5,200 Israeli Jews visited the Temple Mount in 2007, an increase
of 6.3 percent over 2006, while nearly 240,000 foreign tourists visited the
ancient compound last year, a 41.4% increase over a year earlier.