TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH (1): More controversy over the bridge to the Mugrabi Gate:

Archaeologists knock Western Wall bridge plan
By Nadav Shragai (Haaretz)

Senior archaeologists have come out in harsh criticism against the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) for authorizing plans for a bridge to connect the Dung Gate in Jerusalem's Old City to the Mugrabi Gate, located next to the Western Wall and leading to the Temple Mount.

Work on the bridge is to begin Sunday, after it received a green light from the city's planning division.

The archaeologists say that the bridge's pylons will damage one of the most significant archaeological parks in Israel and the world, located outside the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount.

They also say the plan was not held up to professional and public scrutiny, that the conservation committee of the IAA was not called together to discuss it, and that other alternatives were not given proper consideration. They are thus calling for a halt to work until the plan can be reevaluated.

The IAA rejects the criticism outright and says "the construction of the bridge was conditioned on archaeological excavations that would expose the ancient remains completely, preserve them and present them to the public as part of the Archaeological Park." The rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovich, who has promoted the plan, says that from his point of view, the Mugrabi Gate could be closed, but since the police insist on its continued use, and the plan was approved and alternatives carefully examined, the bridge is the lesser evil.

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For some background to this story, see here.