The only entrance to Har Habayis for Jews and tourists is in imminent danger of collapse, a structural engineer has warned, Channel 13 News reported on Thursday.
The Mughrabi Bridge, a wooden bridge connecting the Kosel plaza with the Mughrabi Gate of Har Habayis, was built 15 years ago as a temporary replacement for a stone ramp used until then which collapsed after a heavy snowfall one winter.
The current wooden bridge was built until a more permanent bridge could be constructed. But since the construction of a permanent bridge requires excavation of the area, attempts to replace it in 2011 and 2014 resulted in accusations by the Waqf that Israel was trying to destabilize the Temple Mount and collapse the Dome of the Rock, which in turn resulted in international condemnation, violent protests, a call for a third intifada, and even calls to war by neighboring Arab states.
The engineer told the Western Wall Heritage Foundation that the bridge must be replaced “without delay” and replaced with a metal bridge, which will be more durable and also fireproof.
The wood is “in a state of extreme dryness and has many longitudinal cracks,” the engineer wrote in a letter to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.
However, any steps to replace the bridge are likely to reignite already inflamed tensions with Palestinians and Jordan.
Palestinian media reports have already slammed the report, claiming that plans to replace the bridge would “Judaize” the site and that it constitutes a “systematic attack on the Islamic endowment, and a blatant interference in the affairs of the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar threatened last week that Hamas will resume rocket attacks if Israel “violates” the Al-Aqsa Mosque in any way. He also threatened to renew the conflict with Israel if Qatari funds don’t enter Gaza next week, and claimed that “G-d had decreed” that the terror group must destroy Tel Aviv.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
This is something that the Charedim and the Left agree on –
DON’T replace the bridge.
From a security veiw, i hope the right agree as well…
Irrespective of what the Palestinians say; Jew are NOT allowed onto the Har Habayis!
Better that this ramp collapse, than having people collapse with חיוב מיתה for ascending הר הבית בטומאה.
Obviously this is all happening as we head into פרשת חוקת = פרה about to be read 4 times over next week.
Take it down! Keep Jews off the Har HaBies! Everybody wins, The Halacha is kept, the Arabs are happy
yisroellazear, chas veshalom! Only a total kofer can be happy with a situation where Jews are kept off the Har Habayis while Arabs trample the place with impunity. That is a chilul haShem she’ein kamohu. So long as Arabs are allowed there, Jews must be too.
Of course they must keep the halacha about going to mikveh first, and keeping to areas that are definitely known to be outside the Azara, but there are many such places. In any case, that is their cheshbon, not the government’s. The government must either close the site completely, or allow Jews to go.