The Conundrum, Part 6

Expect more Palestinian whining and seething as Israeli archeologists have opened up a brand new find to the public.

Israel has opened to the public an underground archaeological exhibit near Jerusalem's most sensitive shrine, drawing fire from Palestinians who say the project endangers the foundations of the holy site.

Israel's opening of an archaeological tunnel near al-Haram al-Sharif, the site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque where the biblical Jewish Temples once stood, sparked Palestinian anger in 1996. Sixty-one Arabs and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes.

The "Chain of Generations Center" took over 10 years to construct and recently opened its doors to visitors for the first time. Among the attractions is a Jewish ritual bath dating to the 1st century which was discovered during building work.

The site runs parallel to Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall, in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem. Palestinians have long opposed Israeli excavations in the area, asserting it could weaken al-Haram al-Sharif's foundations.

I've been to Israel, and I actually took a tour of the Western Wall tunnel, which is a series of chambers running parallel to the Western Wall. Among the sights on the tour was a 250 ton stone that forms the foundation for the Western Wall. This new exhibit appears to extend well beyond what I had seen. It truly is a sight to behold to see how the Temple Mount was assembled.

Never mind the fact that the Palestinian Muslims have repeatedly excavated the Temple Mount itself for the construction of ever-larger mosque facilities, refusing to permit access to Israeli excavations, and that Israeli scientists have noted that the Temple Mount walls have moved in the vicinity of the Palestinian excavations.

A similar archeological discovery was used as an excuse to launch riots in 1996.

This new exhibit never actually goes beneath the Temple Mount and all the excavations are adjacent to Judaism's holiest site.

Assad is busy in Syria saying that it worries about an Israeli attack and will take action to defend itself. Well, Assad still has to be held to account for his backing Hizbullah - including providing material support and equipment.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Israelis aren't happy with PM Olmert's handling of the situation. Opposition is coming from all quarters, and Michael Totten has an interesting interview about how Olmert's handling of the situation in Lebanon damaged Israel's military. Totten also interviews Major Tal Lev-Ram, IDF spokesperson for Southern Command on the Gaza-Israel border, who notes the Palestinian terror groups using children to fight their war with Israel:

“It’s a problem," he said. "Sometimes we see resistance. But it’s difficult to judge from our perspective. We see a lot of cases where Katyusha or Qassam rockets are fired from within populated areas. More than that, they came up with a system that was based on the fear that we would find the exact location of the rocket launchers. So they place the launchers with a timer. And ten, eleven, and twelve year old children come and take the launcher away afterwards. Often we’re faced with fourteen or fifteen year old youth who come, armed, and place charges along the fence. When we see them, even when we see that they are armed, if they are only fourteen or fifteen we only shoot to scare them. We don’t actually fire at them. Of course, only if there is no immediate danger to our forces.

The Palestinians continue firing rockets into Israel.

Hizbullah and Nasrallah continue to make plans for their victory celebration in Beirut, despite the fact that Nasrallah has to remain in seclusion for fear of Israeli reprisals, and that much of Southern Lebanon is in ruins from Hizbullah's initiation of war with Israel on Lebanese soil.

I discount the possibility that a breakthrough has been made on the release of Gilad Shalit, since we've been hearing about breakthroughs and imminent releases for weeks now. Meanwhile, there's no word on the whereabouts/conditions of Goldwasser or Regev, who remain held by Hizbullah.

The territories will be sealed for the Jewish High Holy Days, given the terror threat posed.

UPDATE:
No surprise here. Olmert admits there were mistakes in leadership. No kidding. Military experts will be studying this for a long time to come.

Shimon Peres met with Abbas in New York, and this is the result:

Vice-Premier Shimon Peres met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in New York on Thursday, and presented to him the preconditions that the vice-premier said needed to be fulfilled before any meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could take place.

The preconditions presented by Peres included the release of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit and a cessation of Kassam rocket fire against Israel.

The vice-premier also emphasized the need for increased Palestinian cooperation in the negotiation process, holding them accountable for the current stalemate in discussions over a possible prisoner swap deal.

So, Fatah and Hamas agree to stop firing rockets and release Shalit, and what happens next? Prisoner releases? That's left unstated in all this, but that really is the heart of the wrangling at this point.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.