Occupied Jerusalem
- 26 years have passed since the Israeli occupation authorities opened the door of the western tunnel under the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, during the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu, who commissioned the then mayor of the occupation, Ehud Olmert, to open it.
On September 25, 1996, the Palestinians went out in a popular uprising, and confrontations began with the opening of the tunnel, and extended from northern Palestine to its south, and 63 Palestinians were martyred during the confrontations called the “tunnel gift”: 32 of them in the West Bank and 31 in the Gaza Strip, while 1,600 others were injured to varying degrees.
In memory of this popular uprising, researcher in the history of Jerusalem, Dr. Ihab Al-Jallad, confirms - through an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net - that the excavations of this tunnel did not stop before or after that year, as excavations were and are still being carried out with the aim of expanding it.
Following is the text of the dialogue with Al-Jallad, which touched on the events of the tunnel donation and the gain that the Palestinians achieved after that, on the one hand, and the danger of tunnels and excavations that the occupation authorities are conducting on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings on the other hand.
New excavations carried out by the occupation under the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera)
Let's start from your memories of the gift of the tunnel, what are the events that were etched in your memory as my holy one?
I was born in 1976, and I remember the details of the Al-Aqsa massacre in 1990 and the tunnel gift in 1996, which erupted after the stagnation of Palestinian resistance activity over the 3 years following the signing of the Oslo Agreement. until today.
I remember the confrontations, shootings, and demonstrations that erupted after every Friday prayer, and how Muslims achieved an achievement after that by restoring and reconstructing the Marwani prayer hall, as voices rose that crying, denouncing and denouncing the opening of a new door to the tunnel was not enough, and that achievements must be made on the ground.
Everyone was convinced that it was not possible to stop digging the tunnels, and a response must be made by reconstructing the Marwani prayer hall, some of whose parts were within the tunnels, as it is classified within the settlements of Al-Aqsa.
Its renovations and reopenings were an attempt to put things right.
The opening of a new door to the tunnel led to the outbreak of a popular uprising at the time, but the excavations did not stop before and after that year. Tell us more about these excavations and tunnels?
The excavations are continuing and have not yet stopped in the tunnel whose door was opened in 1996, and it must be noted that what was opened at that time was an exit door, because before that year visitors to the tunnel used to enter and exit through the same door, so a door was opened that used an exit to facilitate the movement of tunnel visitors and prevent overcrowded in its inner corridors.
I visited the Western Tunnel 5 months ago, and saw new excavations about 6 meters deeper than the current level of the tunnel.
There are ancient excavations that are renewed horizontally and vertically in the western tunnel, just as in the area of the Umayyad palaces adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque, in an attempt to find what was not found in the previous excavations.
During the expansion of the western tunnel in 1982, workers entered Sabil Qaitbay (one of the landmarks of Al-Aqsa Mosque) and then arrived at the Al-Mutahhara Gate and Al-Ain Bath in the Qattanin Market adjacent to Al-Aqsa.
The southern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Umayyad palaces (Al-Jazeera)
Can the number of tunnels and excavations be counted?
How large are its halls and corridors?
We cannot talk about a specific number of tunnels because many of the excavations fall within the framework of the expansion of a particular tunnel, but we are definitely talking about dozens of excavations.
We call some excavations "dispersal excavations", such as those carried out from time to time in certain squares in the Umayyad palaces area. For example, there is an active excavation now in the southwestern side of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the corner of the Islamic Museum, in addition to active excavations in the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa since the eighties of the last century until today.
Some tunnel corridors are narrow, no more than half a meter wide and 180 centimeters high, and some halls are 8 meters wide and 10 meters long.
Can it be said that these tunnels constitute an underground city?
And what can the visitor see inside it?
No, we cannot say that it is a city in the sense of an entire city, but it includes halls for visiting and others for celebrations, a synagogue and a bath, in addition to halls equipped with advanced computers in which it sheds light on the history of Jewish roots by telling stories about the countries from which the Jews came and came.
What is the danger of the novel presented inside the tunnels through light shows and events that simulate the construction of the alleged temple?
The planting and consolidation of the Jewish narrative is a matter that extends from the middle of the 19th century through foreign and Zionist explorers who came up with the novel of rediscovering what is called the land of the Torah, or reapplying the Torah geographically. Proving it through visual and audio means.
How will they justify their occupation of Palestine if they do not follow this path?
They justify their occupation by claiming their adherence and revival to the heritage of the ancestors and fathers, and the secularists are also not excluded from focusing on this point.
Even the names of Arab villages always claim that they were taken from a word of Hebrew origin from the time of the ancestors, to say that they are neither occupiers nor strangers to this land.
Cracks in the walls of the houses of the Crimean neighborhood in the Old City due to excavations (Al-Jazeera)
What is the most dangerous excavations on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings?
There is no doubt that the excavation located in the southwestern side of Al-Aqsa is one of the most dangerous excavations because it actually affects an area that has not been consolidated or restored for about a thousand years, that is, from the Crusader period and is completely forgotten.
With the succession of years, the foundations in this area were shaken with the implementation of excavations, which led to the fall of stones that appeared at the Dome of Yusuf Agha, and this is the most dangerous area currently in the mosque.
The Israelis claimed that they did not tamper with this area, but the indications indicate the presence of excavations due to the presence of a small closed wooden house under which excavations are taking place.
Here we note that the excavations are usually carried out under a canvas tent with open ends, but we are talking here about excavations under this wooden house, and therefore we do not know where they got to and where they entered.
Recently, there have been repeated incidents of stones falling from the southern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque inside the old Al-Aqsa Mosque. Prior to these incidents, cracks were evident in the structure of the southern side of the western wall of the mosque. Tell us about the tampering with the southwestern settlement?
We do not know anything about this settlement except that it is undoubtedly similar to the Marwani mosque (the Eastern settlement).
The rock and earth drop to about 20 meters in this area, and there are a group of arches and layers that bear the floor of the Islamic Museum and the Women’s Prayer Room in Al-Aqsa Mosque. buildings.
This area is not mentioned in the Islamic and Crusader histories - who tried to dig in Al-Aqsa Mosque - because the details are unknown, and hence the danger, especially since we do not know an entrance to this settlement, unlike the Marwani chapel that was mentioned and was previously used as a storage and stable for horses.
Falling stones and cracks give us indications to talk about the depth of the danger, but we are actually unaware of what is going on under the ground in this place.
Al-Tankazi school, which was completely cut off from Al-Aqsa Mosque and damaged due to excavations (Al-Jazeera)
Is it possible to enumerate the features of Al-Aqsa Mosque that have been damaged as a result of the excavations so far?
The features of the western region of Al-Aqsa Mosque are the most affected, starting with the foundations of the Islamic Museum and the Ottoman School, whose well was plundered and became part of the tunnel, in addition to the Kurdish bond whose floor, arches and pillars were cracked, and the Tunzizi school was also not spared from cracks.
The recurrence of tree-falling incidents inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque has also become a remarkable thing. Is this related to the excavations?
There are two possibilities, either that its fall is related to fossils already, or that some of them do not live more than 40 years and fall.
The two trees of Quraish and pine, unlike the cypress tree, grow diagonally and their roots are superficial and do not strike deep in the ground, so they do not hold for more than 40 years due to the diagonal growth, but the movement under the ground and the looseness resulting from the excavations may help in the fall of these trees without a doubt.
Al-Qarmi neighborhood in the Old City, whose houses were damaged due to secret excavations below (Al-Jazeera)
In conjunction with the public excavations, secret excavations are being carried out, the details of which are not announced. Tell us about this type of excavation?
There are excavations that are not announced, such as the excavation that is being carried out now and located between Bab al-Amud and al-Sahira, in addition to excavations inside Solomon's Cave (The Cave of Linen), which has been closed for some time, and a large project is surrounded by mystery inside this cave, which has been repeatedly restored but is now closed to implement a secret excavation.
Another secret excavation is located under the Al-Qarmey neighborhood in the Old City, and led to the cracking of the houses of Jerusalemites there, without publishing its details.
There are old and new secret excavations that we hear about and see traces of, but we cannot know how dangerous and details they are.
Jewish holidays begin this year in conjunction with the anniversary of the gift of the tunnel, what is your reading of this season, during which extremist Temple groups seek to achieve new gains?
The worshipers will be restricted, especially the youth group, by not allowing those under 50 years old to enter the mosque. In return, the temple groups will seek to include a large number of intruders in each group, which will confuse the work of the guards, whose number does not exceed 20 guards per shift, and this will help Extremists certainly register new violations.