TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: For some reason this Arutz Sheva article from 14 April did not show up on Google. I only found it yesterday at the Bible and Interpretation News website.

Exclusive: Dumped Temple Mount Rubble Yields Jewish Artifacts
23:09 Apr 14, '05 / 5 Nisan 5765

A historic excavation has been taking place in an eastern Jerusalem valley for the past six months: the first-ever archaeological examination of the Temple Mount.

I note this passage in particular:

�The very act of spending time and making the effort to examine debris just because it originates from the Temple Mount transmits a very powerful message to the general public and to the world as a whole about the importance of the place,� Dr. Barkai said, likening the painstaking examination of the Temple Mount rubble to the respect given to a dead corpse by burying it.

He said the project is of particular importance due to the Islamic Waqf efforts to perpetrate something that he says is worse than Holocaust denial. "There is a phenomenon of Temple denial," Barkai said. "I just heard [Arab] MK Dahamshe this week in the Knesset denying that there were ever temples on the Temple Mount. It is a part of the cultural Intifada. I think it is just as serious as Holocaust denial. This intifada started in Joseph�s tomb and is trying to deny Jewish rights to the country."

The sifting and examinations have already yielded important artifacts from various periods, starting from the First Temple period until today. ...

I think it's an overstatement to say this is worse than or as serious as Holocaust denial, but it's still vile.

As for the artifacts discovered, the list is too long to copy here, but you should read it all. Some wonderful things have been found, which are important despite the fact that they have been torn from their precious stratigraphic context. It is very important that this salvage project get funding so that it can be completed.