Friday, September 21, 2007

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:
Israeli archeologists ordered out of court hearing
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

A group of Israeli archeologists and public officials who petitioned the High Court of Justice against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Antiquities Authority over ongoing Wakf infrastructure work on the Temple Mount were ordered out of the courtroom during a hearing Thursday, an archeologist said.

The members of the nonpartisan Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount had to leave the courtroom while the state-run archeological body presented "secret" evidence to the court.

"It is more than clear that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed the Antiquities Authority to cooperate with the Wakf and conceal the damage to antiquities being done during the infrastructure work at the site," said Hebrew University archeologist and leading Temple Mount expert Dr. Eilat Mazar.

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