FROM THE JUNK ARCHAEOLOGY FILE:

(extracts from "Middle East Research Institute Special Report � No. 16" [my (bold font) emphasis])

"The Think Tank of the Arab League:
The Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF)"

By: Steven Stalinsky

Since its founding in 1999, The Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up has hosted events and produced studies on a variety of issues. The Zayed Centre has dealt with the September 11th attacks, arguing that they were perpetrated by Americans and Israelis. It has discussed "[The] Factual Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and has hosted Holocaust deniers. Dr. Umayma Al-Jalahma, known for her article explaining how Jews use the blood of non-Jews for pastries for the Jewish holiday of Purim, was a recent lecturer at the Centre. A report today suggested that the SARS virus could be a product of "an American war against the world."

[�]

"Al Buraq Wall Not Wailing Wall" is the title of a report released by the Zayed Centre on December 20, 2001. [36] The Zayed Centre website's summary of the report states: "This study is released in line with the Centre's message to serve Arab causes and refute the false Zionist allegations in regard to Palestine� and shows the falsehood of the Zionist religious claims and anthropological fabrications. The study gives a historical account of the Jews from the days of the Temple of Solomon, which was destroyed in 586 B.C., through their persecution under Roman rule, to the occupation� The study also underlines that Al Aqsa Mosque was built more than a thousand years before Solomon, giving evidence that refutes the Zionist allegations that the Mosque was constructed on the ruins of Solomon's Temple� all of which demonstrate that the Zionist alleged rights to the [Wailing] Wall are simply baseless."

The claim that the Al Aqsa Mosque pre-dates Solomon's temple is preposterous, as is obvious to anyone who knows anything about the history and archaeology of the region.

On January 27, 2002, Dr. Hassan Ali Khater, editor-in-chief of the Al Quds Al-Sharif Encyclopedia, spoke at the Zayed Centre. [37] A summary of his lecture on the Zayed Centre website states: "Dr. Hassan Ali Khater� added that Israelis are falsifying history by inscribing Jewish inscriptions on rocks [and] then calling international experts to re-discover [them] as Jewish monuments."

All I can say about this one is that I don't believe it and, if people want to make a serious accusation like this, they need to name names and inscriptions and call on the international community of scholars to expose the fakes. Also, in another report on the same website, Dr. Hassan Ali Khater is quoted as denying that Solomon's temple ever existed:

"Muslim�s First Qibla in danger. A report prepared by ZCCF to commemorate arson of Al Aqsa Mosque"

Dr. Hassan Ali Khater, the chief editor of �Encyclopedia of Al Quds Al Shareef� commenting on Israeli designs of Judaization of Jerusalem said, �There are 15 Israeli concepts to occupy Jerusalem. The Mosque is in danger to collapse due to underground diggings and use of acids to dissolve rocks. Nobody knows the degree of damage caused to the structure due to Israeli obsession with the idea of building The Solomon Temple, the foundation stone of which was laid down in the glare of media a few months ago in spite of the historical facts that deny existence of any such temple.

My emphasis.