LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Temple Mount: Temple Mount Compound
built 642 days ago
In the last year, and in particular in recent months, massive destruction of antiquities has taken place within the Temple Mount Compound. Within the framework of the construction of a new mosque in Solomon's Stables, large scale excavation took place and a huge pit was dug by tractors. Thousands of tons of dirt laden with a large number of archeological findings dating from the First Temple Period and onwards was dumped in the municipal dump and other locations.
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In July 2007, the Waqf began digging a ditch from the northern side of the Temple Mount compound to the Dome of the Rock as a prelude to infrastructure work in the area. Although the dig was approved by the police, it generated protests from archaeologists. The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount criticized the use of a tractor for excavation at the Temple Mount "without real, professional and careful archaeological supervision involving meticulous documentation".
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The Islamic figures in Israel long ago turned themselves into the "defenders of Al-Aqsa" and they were the spirit behind the massive construction in the Temple Mount compound over the last few years. Now they are standing at the head of the very public struggle against Israel, which allegedly intends in the bridge work "to undermine the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to build the Third Temple." Other Islamicists, like Hamas in the Gaza Strip, are taking part in the incitement.
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In 1996, the Israeli Islamic Movement sponsored the expansion of the underground al-Marawani Mosque on the Temple Mount. The excavation conducted for this expansion extended beyond the original compound, and an ancient underground structure dating from the period of the Second Temple (circa 515 B.C. (B.C.E.) to 70 A.D. (C.E.)), known as the Western Hulda Gate passageway, was converted into a mosque.
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According to report in Christianity Today, April 6, 1998 by Gordon Govier, the temple mount has a network of 49 cisterns under the 11-acre platform, which have been neglected for decades. Shimon Gibson maintains that cracks have appeared in walls of the compound.
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This gate took the visitor through a tunnel which led to the top of the Temple Mount. Near the outside of the gateway was a magnificent garden with many types of roses used in the compounding of the Temple incense - hence the name Kiphonus - rose garden in Greek.
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Temple Mount Compound