[dstarr]

I can just tell you that my folks went through the tunnel there. It starts in a corner down at the end of the Western Wall and runs back under the rock. It comes out in hte Arab sector. It is something that has been driving the Arabs nuts.

[BoomerBob]

I can confirm some of your report-- I walked the tunnel back in February 2001. There was a time when the Israelis were doing very limited excavations of a tunnel that led more or less directly under the DotR. As you can imagine, the Waqf who administer the DotR had a fit and the Israelis stopped (the tunnel that led under the Dome is visibly blocked now).

What has been occuring over the last 18-24 months is a major "renovation" by the Waqf of the Temple Mount. Bulldozers have literally been brought in and tore up the site with no regard for archaelogical study. The Israelis have been scrounging through the dump site created by the Palestinians on the southern slope of the Temple Mount. One of the items the Israelis recoverd is a lentle piece thought to be a part of the Herodian Temple complex. I've also read some recent reports in near-east archaelogy journals that have expressed concerns that the work being done by the Palestinians may actually be weakening areas of the Temple Mount, particularly the Al Aqsa mosque located to the south of the DotR. Can you imagine what would happen if the "renovations" actual caused some of the structures to collapse? Of course the Palestinians would blame the Israelis for secretly damaging the structures.

[Goldi-Lox]

It's my understanding that the tunnel you speak of has been there for many hundreds of years (maybe thousands). It was closed for a long time after Israel became a state. It was when they reopened it that the Arabs went nuts. Why? Because the tunnel shows areas that PROVE beyond anyone's doubts that the history of the area shows evidence of Jewish habitation way beyond the existance of the Muslim religion...thus bolsering the argument that the Jews lived there First!