Foundation: Israel escalates excavations beneath Aqsa Mosque

[ 23/04/2011 – 10:27 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage has confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities have escalated excavations under the Aqsa Mosque and neighboring areas.

According to evidence gathered by the foundation, Israeli authorities have carried out wide-ranging excavations in the southwestern region of the mosque and under the Buraq wall, known to Jews as the ”wailing wall”, in order to set up a network of underground tunnels. The tunnels stretch to Hamam al-Ain, near the Silsila and Mutahhara gates, and they are networked with the tunnels in the Wadi Hulwa neighborhood in Jerusalem’s Silwan district.

Digging was also detected near the Al-Amoud Gate area. The tunnels are planned to be connected to the Western Jebusite tunnel at the entrance of the tunnel beneath the Omeriyya school, the Aqsa foundation said in a statement released Thursday.

The foundation said that for some time it has been gathering testimonies from first-hand witnesses who have entered the tunnels and related the situation inside. Data was also gathered from locals.

About a month ago, an Aqsa foundation crew entered the tunnel that extends from central Silwan to Wadi Hulwa and pierces some of the walls of the Old City and reaches Buraq Square.

The Aqsa foundation concluded that the tunnels prove Israel has been escalating excavations under the Aqsa Mosque, adding that what is hidden is even more wide-ranging.

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