Israeli Court refuses to halt illegal Arab building on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

By Moshe Reinfeld (Ha'aretz August 9)

The High Court of Justice yesterday rejected two petitions requesting that the authorities put a stop to illegal construction by the Muslim Waqf religious trust on the Temple Mount. The court accepted the state's argument that this was not the kind of "special case" that called for its intervention based on earlier rulings.

In one of the petitions, attorney Shmuel Kaspar asked the court - Justices Shlomo Levin, Dalia Dorner and Eliezer Rivlin - to order the demolition of two structures erected by the Waqf in the southern area of the Temple Mount and the removal of four large iron containers, which are standing a few dozen meters from the place where the Holy of Holies of the temple is thought by believers to have been located.

According to Kaspar, not only were the structures erected without the required permits, they are also a visual blot and a serious environmental hazard.

In response, attorney Uzi Fogelman from the State Attorney's Office said that police intervention had put a stop to the building of the two structures. As for the containers, they have been there since 1993 and serve the Waqf for other purposes.

The second petition, filed by the Temple Mount Faithful group, claimed that the Waqf was illegally laying paving tiles across a large swath of the southern section of the Temple Mount and destroying Jewish archaeological remains in the process.

He also cited reports that the Waqf intends to build another mosque on the mount.

Fogelman replied that the paving work was proceeding with the knowledge of the prime minister. At the same time, he said, "the Waqf cannot do whatever it pleases on the Temple Mount. There are red lines, and those who are meant to know them, in fact know them."

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