The beginning of Ramadan is barely over a week away. Hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers will flock to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, if Israel permits. If Israel doesn't permit, there will be hell to pay. But the chances that the weakened Southern Wall of the Temple Mount will survive such an onslaught of visitors seem to be diminishing daily. Many will likely be killed. And then there will be hell to pay anyway.
Now it appears that the problem has spread to the Western Wall. While the new bulge is small, it's expected to grow. Without intervention by the Israeli authorities, it's likely that the Southern Wall and a portion of the Mosque will soon collapse, but the Islamic Trust (wakf) to which Israel, in its wisdom, has given virtual carte blanche on Judaism's holiest ground, will not cooperate. And this despite (or because of) the fact that it's their own indescriminate demolition work that has caused the problem.
It's amazing to me that this catastrophe is being permitted to unfold before the eyes of the entire world with barely a peep of protest. Never mind the thousands or even tens of thousands of people who may be crushed to death. Never mind the hundreds of years of Islamic art and architecture that could be lost, the thousands of years of Jewish historical and religious artifacts that would be destroyed, the demolition of the last remains of the Temple where Jesus is believed to have walked and preached. What can be said about a so-called "religious authority" that would permit such a thing to happen? And what can be said about world leaders who are content to stand by and watch? The death toll is likely to exceed those of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Shanksville, Bali and Moscow combined. The damage to historical, religious and archeological knowledge and research would be incalculable. And yet not a word, not a threat, not a serious admonition to those most diligent keepers of the Trust, the Islamic wakf, who refuse to allow "their holy turf" to be desecrated by the feet of infidels. Ryan James has it right. "Let's not forget, in the past five years, the Waqf has only been destroying there - their goal is to build a mosque on the entire compound," Mazar added. The coming fall of the southern wall would ostensibly create so great an uproar against Israel in the Arab world that future Israeli governments would consider the Temple Mount off-limits to Jews for many generations to come just to avoid further conflict. What appears clear is that the Muslim world is quite ready to allow the wall to collapse if it means the perpetuation of their absolute hegemony over the Jewish world's most holy site.While it seems incredible that the Waqf would risk the deaths of thousands of Muslims over what appears to be a small trifle with Israel, Mazar points out that the Waqf only "cares about Islamicizing the Temple Mount, and absolutely nothing else."
