Frontierist News

Jerusalem Post

An Israeli archeologist said Wednesday that he has pinpointed the exact location of the Second Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

The site identified by Hebrew University archeologist Prof. Joseph Patrich, based on the study of a large underground cistern on the Temple Mount and passages from the Mishna, places the Temple and its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates in a more southeasterly and diagonal frame of reference compared to previous studies.

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Patrich said that his research indicates that the rock over which the Dome of the Rock was built in the 7th century CE is actually outside the confines of the Temple.

The rock might be outside the confines of the temple, but is the entire Dome of the Rock shrine outside as well? If so, the possibility of building a Third Temple without disturbing the Dome of the Rock might be irresistable to some.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, religious Jews have prayed that God will allow for the rebuilding of a Third Temple. This prayer has been a formal part of the traditional thrice daily Jewish prayer services. Though it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism, as an unrealized place of worship. The prophets in the Tanakh called for its construction, to be fulfilled in the Messianic era.

Haaretz

The excavation of a tunnel under Jerusalem’s City of David has gone on for months without a license from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), as required by law.

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Late last year, the archaeologists showed senior government officials a plan to continue tunneling under Silwan to the Old City’s Dung Gate, some 600 meters away, and perhaps even as far as the wall around the Temple Mount.

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This is a very sensitive region for a dig. Should it approach the Temple Mount wall, it will certainly elicit angry reactions from the Muslim Waqf (religious trust), which has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to excavate under the holy places on the mount.
Moreover, most of the excavation site is inhabited by Palestinians, and thus far, no effort has been made to get their permission, as required by law, for digging on and under their property.

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The Aqsa [mosque] and Dome of the Rock [shrine] sit above the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, in an area referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the al-Haram al-Sherif.
The Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third holiest [site] and has been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the past.
In the 1980s, Israel uncovered a plot by a group of Jews to blow up Aqsa in the hope that a new Jewish temple could be built at the site.