<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Demolition masqued as Archeology: Israel gearing to open tunnel network under Aqsa Mosque&nbsp;area]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<table width="100%" align="center">
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<td><span class="PublishedDate">[ 20/04/2011 &#8211; 03:53 PM ] </span></td>
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<p style="font-size:10pt;">OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)&#8211; Israeli occupation authorities are making preparations ahead of opening a network of underground tunnels near the Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">The tunnels stretch from under walls of the sacred zone to Jerusalem&#8217;s Old City.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">Several tunnels had been dug out over various periods over the last forty years, Haaretz said. They were also interconnected through a tunnel network plan, with the main entrance in the city&#8217;s Silwan district, which neighbors the mosque area. From there, they can be taken to the Al-Buraq wall, known to Jews as the Wailing Wall, west of the mosque, and they extends to the Old City&#8217;s Muslim quarter, where a number of settlement outposts and Jewish synagogues have been built.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">Israeli officials expect the tunnel network will serve as a new tourist attraction for hundreds of thousands of foreigners yearly, Haaretz said. Tourists would be able to enter Silwan and walk below the surface of the earth to Jerusalem&#8217;s Old City.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">According to Haaretz, the excavations have ruined the archaeological features under the ground. The objective was to dig past Islamic and Christian features in a bid to stumble upon Jewish artifacts.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">The project itself was aimed at enhancing settlement outposts erected in the city&#8217;s Muslim quarter by linking them to outposts in the Silwan district.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">Israeli archaeologist Yoram Tseverir has declared that digging under the mosque is ”wrong”, assuring that no scientific findings can be made thereby.</p>
<p style="font-size:10pt;">The digging has caused serious cracking and cave-ins in the mosque&#8217;s square.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7AreP1iRLrdwn5R2JvgWn7WZ5S4ybQ1IXtzoGemst%2bP9JVjRG2piwo8hqiMTkFmQq7EJk%2by0n20aptLduqlzKFj3uyTIbNChYGXOiPXXToEU%3d">Source</a></p>
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