TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Meshaal Warns Against Continued Excavations
06:14 Feb 05, '07 / 17 Shevat 5767 (Arutz Sheva)

(IsraelNN.com) Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in a televised speech from Damascus on Sunday, warned that continued excavation in the “Al Aksa” area would lead to a new popular uprising. He was referring to the excavation of a Roman-era road stretching from the ancient City of David to the Temple Mount. Water used for Temple ceremonies was drawn from the Shiloah spring at the base of the city.

[...]

UPDATE: And there's this from Ha'aretz:

City of David tunnel excavation proceeds without proper permit
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent

The excavation of a tunnel under Jerusalem's City of David has gone on for months without a license from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), as required by law.

In addition, there is no operative plan for developing the site by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA), which legally administers the area.

Nevertheless, no steps are being taken against the two IAA archaeologists who violated their license; instead, they are being allowed to dig in an area extending another 100 meters, to "explore" the site.

The archaeologists, Professor Gabi Reich and Eli Shukrun, began the dig in the area of the village of Silwan a few months ago, following the discovery of part of a road that may have been Jerusalem's main street in the Second Temple era. The dig is being financed by Elad, an association that, inter alia, works to settle Jews in East Jerusalem.

[...]

This is a very sensitive region for a dig. Should it approach the Temple Mount wall, it will certainly elicit angry reactions from the Muslim Waqf (religious trust), which has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to excavate under the holy places on the mount.

Moreover, most of the excavation site is inhabited by Palestinians, and thus far, no effort has been made to get their permission, as required by law, for digging on and under their property.

But on top of all that, it recently emerged that the dig violates the terms of the license that the archaeologists received in January 2006, and has not been approved by the INNPPA.


[...]

Doesn't sound good.

UPDATE (6 February): Reader Menachem Brody e-mails:

This is a very sensitive region for a dig. Should it approach the Temple Mount wall, it will certainly elicit angry reactions from the Muslim Waqf (religious trust), which has repeatedly accused Israel of trying to excavate under the holy places on the mount.

I think you should sift a little more before reprinting potentially inflammable material.
(I am not objecting to the inaccuracy, but rather to the damage it causes.)
Enclosed map from another article in Ha'aretz this January 24 by Nadav Shragai.
Note that the site of the dig is at the extreme southern end of the City of David, adjacent to the pool, and if they would continue at their present rate northwards, the diggers will approach the southern side of the Old City wall (not the temple Mount) in another 10 or more years...

Thanks for that clarification. But it still sounds as though there are irregularities with this dig which are a cause for concern.

UPDATE (8 February): Todd Bolen says that I've been led astray.