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Israel Says Jerusalem's Old City Walls Crumbling
JERUSALEM, April 3 (IslamOnline & News agencies) - Israel's antiquities authority has warned that parts of Jerusalem's Old City wall may be in danger of collapse in the near future, news agencies reported.
"There are certain places in the wall that will definitely be dangerous in the medium-to-long term future," Yaacov Sheffer, the director of the authorities' conservation department was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
The stonewalls, surrounding the Old City and its sites holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews, were built between 1536 and 1542 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The city came under Israeli control after the state of Israel was declared on top of Arab land in 1948. Later, in a move condemned by the international community, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa mosque is located, after it warred with neighboring Arab countries.
"We have no way of telling you that the wall will start crumbling tomorrow or any other time in the future because there is no monitoring system in place," Sheffer said.
He told the Jerusalem Post that the antiquities authority had founded a team of experts to conduct a survey of the walls but that there was a quarrel over the funding, which would exceed $40,000 in costs.
"The question of who is to pay the tab is the big problem, and in the meantime no one has done anything," Sheffer said, noting that one of the problems is that it is unclear whose authority the wall comes under.
He says a comprehensive survey would probably cost $40,000, which the antiquities authority has been unable to raise. Sheffer says the authority was "a bit embarrassed" to turn to world Jewry to ask for the $40,000 to cover the project.
He warned that portions of the 450-year-old wall may start collapsing in two years, or even sooner, while the authority has no way of knowing when this will happen.
"We have no way of telling you that the wall will start crumbling tomorrow or any other time in the future, because there is no monitoring system in place," he said.
In a bid to assure Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, Sheffer stated that it is "Israel's responsibility to cover the costs - especially when you are talking about Jerusalem."
The one square kilometer labyrinth of the Old City includes the main holy sites of the three monotheistic religions, al-Haram al-Sharif for Muslims, the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Western Wall for Jews.
Al-Haram al-Sharif, including the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.
The destiny of Jerusalem is one of the most controversial issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict with the Palestinians claiming the eastern sector as the capital of a future independent state.
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