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Judaization of the lower Aqueduct of Jerusalem

Digging holes and tunnels beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque

By: Doaa El Shereef

Researcher Specializing in Israeli Affairs
_____________________________________________________________________

The danger of the tunnels lies in being the infrastructure of Al-Aqsa, thus
changing everything there. The people of the Talmud are currently guided by the
archaeologist Josephus in their slogan "Jerusalem 3000 years" i.e. City of David
"Israel's capital", such void assumptions imposed by force.

Although the Israeli attack, aiming to fully Judaize Jerusalem, affected

Palestinian citizens, through the demolition of their homes, the withdrawal of their
identities, refusal to grant them building permits, and other sticks and carrots
methods, nonetheless, it is mainly focused on the excavations in Jerusalem (and in
particular the bottom of the holy sites ) to distort and falsify the facts, aiming to
Judaize Jerusalem, and replacing the Arab-Islamic civilization with the Jewish

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identity. Israel has started these excavations since the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967
and did not stop till the present day.
It is worth mentioning here that archaeologists, led by the Israelis themselves,
who have dug in multiple locations under or in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque did
not find any archaeological or historical pattern of the alleged Temple. Thus, they
searched for these traces in the tunnels, wells, and channels connecting them, and
when they failed to find any archaeological evidence, they resorted to such names
mentioned in the Torah, Talmud, and the Mishna and Gemara in order to associate
Jerusalem with a religious and cultural pattern, based on the alleged Jewish
architecture.

A lobby in the tunnel below Al-Jaafari School including a scale model of

Jerusalem, and the Second Temple in the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The lobby is
prepared as a VIP hall, providing guests with misleading explanations

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However, the Israeli occupation authorities are working to transform the paths
of springs and water channels from the Canaanite and Islamic periods to Talmudic
paths, in an attempt to blur the facts in the city of Jerusalem.

The so-called "Israel's Nature and Parks Authority", "Israel Antiquities

Authority" and the settler association "Elad", have been deepening their control over
historical water springs in Silwan, by deepening and diverging excavations and
tunnels, turning them to a network up to 1000 meters in length approximately, in the
eastern part of Silwan plateau, passing through the area of Ain Umm Al-Daraj, then
northwards to the area of Al-Fawqa, ending with Ein Silwan near the mosque of the
village located at the south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The occupation is carrying out new excavations, deepening the old

excavations in the area of water channels, opening new sites, and turning them to a
kind of underground museum, and displaying films that narrate the alleged Hebrew
history of these channels.

It is worth mentioning that the excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque was first
carried out by British establishments in 1876, with enormous funding by several
institutions such as the newspaper "Telegraph", but this was stopped after the outrage
of the Muslims there, and they carried out the excavations secretly, until a British
workshop was discovered in 1910. Their excavations resumed a third time after the
colonization of Palestine early last century.
The Israeli authorities have begun the excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque
after the occupation of East Jerusalem, including Al-Haram Al-Shareef in 1967 after
their victory over the Arab armies in the war of June 5 of the same year; which
reflects the Zionist ardent desire and will to carry out excavations under Al-Aqsa
Mosque. Some of the institutions involved in the excavations justified this as being
normal excavations aiming only at scientific goals and studying history. In fact, Israeli
institutions have been recruiting archaeology for the Judaization of Jerusalem and Al-
Aqsa Mosque.
But in recent years, some Israeli researchers have demanded not to recruit
archaeology and keeping its research away from the political agenda for many
reasons, including the modern schools that do not see there is a need of political
recruitment of archaeology, which was necessary when Israel was established, where
archaeology was a tool which gave the Jews the right to establish their state, which is
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deeply rooted into history. But now, this state already exists - as they claim - and
derives its power and identity from its existence, so there is no need any more for
political recruitment of archaeology. However, it is noteworthy that those researchers,
although they called for professional research, but the nature of Israeli archaeology is
based on political recruitment, seeking to impose the Zionist narrative and Judaize the
land of Palestine.
Several Israeli reports have recently appeared, exposing the plans and plots of
the Israel Antiquities Authority , and explaining the main aim of these excavations. In
"Palestine in a month", we dedicated the cause of this issue to monitor Israeli reports
and studies that confirm this.
We will start with the report issued recently by the "Israeli National Academy
of Sciences" (‫ )האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים‬on Israeli archaeology, published in
May 2015, and summarizes the work of a committee to study the state of archaeology
in Israel. The committee was formed according to the decision of the Academy's
administration, and began its work in 2010.
The report focuses on the state of archaeology in Israel, and that it is obviously
used politically for Judaization and land control through archaeological excavations,
especially in the Old City of Jerusalem and its vicinity. The members of a special
committee appointed five years ago to examine the development of archaeology in
Israel criticized the political uses of archaeological sites and finds, including the
excavations at the entrance of Wadi Hilweh, run by "Elad" settler association, as well
as the "Biblical garden" in Issawiya area.

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The report on archaeology in Israel published in May 2015 by the "Israel

national Academy of Sciences"

The report pointed to the existence of a phenomenon recently developed;

which is the use of archaeological excavations as a means to pass political positions
that seek to Judaize the area of the Old City and its vicinity, especially the area of
Silwan. The mentioned as an example the course of events in Silwan, and the funding,

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initiating, and managing wide areas of excavations including the entrance to Wadi
Hilweh by "Elad" settler association, taking advantage of the situation for more
control over the Arab land and the intensification of the Jewish presence there, as well
as passing the Talmudic narrative through written publications, and people who
convey and focus on this narrative, noting that there are clear information on the
ideology and the settlement activity of this association.

Judaization of the Old City of Jerusalem and its vicinity, particularly the Silwan
area

The report also noted from the point of view of the committee members that
archaeology is used in order to control the Palestinian land in Issawiya, north of
Jerusalem. According to the report, in order to control a large area of the Issawiya
land and to pass the scheme of the "Biblical garden", the Israeli government claimed
there is an archaeological area in the site, although there is no practical evidence that
there is any archaeological area in the mentioned site.

The reports say: The tunnels are being dug in the Old City and in the adjacent
Palestinian village of Silwan have reached the headlines once again. In the four years
since 2007, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) seems to have been focusing its
efforts and energies on the excavation of channels, tunnels, and underground spaces in
the Historic Basin of Jerusalem (The Old City and its environs).

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The reports also stated that the excavations digs of the Israeli Antiquities
Authority have shown that the major priority goes to the excavations of the late
period.
Between the year 1990 and 2010, there were 115 excavation digs for the
prehistoric period, while 338 digs for the Cooper Age and Early Bronze Age. While
203 digs were carried out from the fifth to the third millennium BC (from the Bronze
Age to the Iron Age), while 342 operations were dedicated for the period from the
third millennium BC to the year 600 BC (late Iron Age and the Persian period).
Until 400 BC, 810 trenches were dedicated to the Hellenistic and Roman periods,
until the fourth century AD.
Excavations were carried out in 275 oil sites (Romanian and Byzantine
excavations) of the seventeenth century, also 762 excavations were carried out for the
Islamic Byzantine period and the early Islamic period (from the year 1010) and until
the Turkish occupation in 1517 (where 340 trenches were dedicated for the period
until the Ottoman era and the establishment of the state).

)‫ (כל התקופות‬2010-1990 ‫אתרי עתיקות חפורים בארץ ישראל בשנים‬

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Archaeological excavations sites in Israel during the years 1990-2010 (all

periods(

Under the mantle of scientific research, the IAA is laying the groundwork for
an ideological tourism with political overtones.
In another report issued by the Israeli institution Emek Shaveh (‫ )עמק שווה‬in
September 2015 entitled:
)‫קרקעיים‬- ‫ מנהרות וחללים תת‬,‫(ילשורים תיתחתית חפירת מחילות‬
Underground Jerusalem: The excavation of tunnels, channels, and underground
spaces in the Historic Basin

The report states:

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Emek Shaveh is an organization of archaeologists and heritage professionals

focusing on the role of tangible cultural heritage in Israeli society. The
organization aims to undermine the perception that considers the past a tool
used in the national struggle or in the justification of harming a disempowered
category

Although engaging in ostensibly scientific activity, the IAA provides no

easily accessible information regarding the location and objectives of its
excavations, the scope of its activities, or the nature of its finds. More often than
not, the information about the tunnel excavations is provided after the fact,
through a communiqué from the IAA spokesperson, and is not reported
transparently during the excavation, as would be expected from a government
service acting in the center of a city. Needless to say, such secrecy heightens the
suspicion of irregularities, of harm done to archeological finds, and of the
advancement of covert goals through the excavations.

The goal of this document is to provide a detailed picture of the state of

underground excavations in the Historic Basin.

"We estimate that additional areas are being excavated, but they are not
mentioned in this document, as we do not yet have enough information about
them. It is our hope that in the future, the IAA will fill the gaps and provide the
public with all the required information about its excavations in the Historic
Basin of ancient Jerusalem. Such transparency is vital for the restoration of the
trust of the public—including the Palestinian public and the international
community—in the archeological activity being undertaken in the city."

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Map showing the underground excavations in Jerusalem: since 1865 to the

present
The sites in the map:
1. Zedekiah's cave (Solomon's Quarries)
2. Western Wall tunnels
3. Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue
4. Western Wall Plaza
5. Ophel excavations, south of Al-Haram Al-Shareef

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6. Giv'ati Parking lot

7. Tunnels follow sewage system and "Herodian" street
8. Gihon Tunnels
9. Charles Warren excavations
This intensive interest in underground tunnels and channels, whether ancient
or contemporary, turns the clock back some 150 years. During the period (1867-
1870), a British mission named "London Palestine Exploration Fund" led by the
engineer Capt. "Charles Warren" focused on Al-Aqsa Mosque. His most important
discoveries included water wells connected to the Gihon spring. He carried out
vertical excavations and horizontal tunnels leading to the eastern, western, and
southern walls of Al-Aqsa in order to discover the nature of these walls and the type
of stones which was believed to be Herodian. These excavations include a tunnel,
where its entrance is located between the Chain Gate and Souq Al-Qattanin (the
cotton's merchants market). It is perpendicular with the western wall of Al-Aqsa with
a length of 25 m and a width of 6 m, and reaches the "Sabil" of Qaitbay. However,
this tunnel did not satisfy his ambitions. Capt. Warren published the results of his
excavations in his books "The Recovery of Jerusalem" (1871), and "The Survey of
Western Palestine: Jerusalem" in 1884.

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Warren circa 1886

The first European archeologists in Jerusalem, aided by laborers from
Jerusalem and its environs, dug deep in the heart of the Holy City in order to establish
its ancient topography and the nature of the structures adjacent to the Temple Mount/
Al-Haram Al-Shareef.

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Warren works by light of a candle in one of the underground shafts, 1869

First and foremost among them was Capt. Charles Warren, R.E. In order to
avoid the prying eyes of the Ottoman authorities, Warren dug vertical shafts at some
distance from the walls of the Temple Mount, and from there he continued to
excavate in ―galleries‖—horizontal tunnels dug along the ancient walls. Warren dug
alongside the Western Wall, from the area of Robinson‘s Arch in the direction of
Barclay‘s Gate (one of the gates of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif) and north of
there, at points that today constitute part of the network of ―Western Wall Tunnels‖.

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’‫ בציור ניתן להבחין בקשת ‘רובינסון‬.‫חפירות משלחת צ’ וורן מול הכותל המערבי‬
Warren's excavations against the Western Wall. The picture shows Robinson's
Arch

He exposed an ancient gate attributed to the temple complex of Herod

(1st century B.C.E.), which led to the Temple Mount itself. Warren‘s excavation
project was also based on an 1862 map documenting the wells and water systems on
the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.

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‫המנהרה מתחת למרכז דוידסון‬

The tunnel under the Davidson center

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A Map documenting the wells and water networks in Al-Haram Al-Shareef since
1862

In addition to the excavations around the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif,

Warren and his team dug in the adjacent village of Silwan, exposing important parts
of a water system. Here too, the excavations were conducted deep underground, far
from the authorities‘ view. For as long as Ottoman rule lasted in Jerusalem,
excavations continued in the shaft/gallery format.

In 1894–1897, archeologists F.G. Bliss and A.C. Dickie dug a sprawling

system of channels and tunnels around Mount Zion and the Siloam Pool/Birket al-
Hamra. Between 1909 and 1911, an expedition led by M. Parker renewed the
investigation of the ancient waterworks of Jerusalem, hoping to find a subterranean
passage from the Gihon Spring in Silwan to the heart of the Temple Mount/ Al-Haram
AL-Shareef.

Robinson's arch, currently used as a synagogue near the Western Wall Plaza

This series of excavations, conducted behind the backs of the authorities, thus
served to reinforce two central narratives regarding the archaeology of Jerusalem:
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First, the Western, scientific narrative that identified the ―real‖ Jerusalem
beneath the surface, while viewing the present inhabitants of the city as degraded,
benighted remnants of the past who obscured the importance and destiny of the Holy
City.
Second, the Muslim-Palestinian narrative, which viewed archaeology as a tool of
western imperialism aimed at undermining the Islamic presence in al-Quds and in the
Haram al-Sharif. Although the 19th– and early-20th-century explorers are considered
the founders of the archaeology of Jerusalem, the science of archaeology developed
rapidly and the ―gallery‖ method of excavation was soon abandoned. The primary
objective of any scientific excavation became the exposure of the historical layers
from top to bottom, revealing the order of their stratification. Under the British rule,
the archaeology of Jerusalem emerged from the twilight, excavations began to take
place by the light of day and successive layers of the city‘s history were peeled away
in an orderly fashion, from the surface and on down. Nonetheless, ―underground‖
excavations did not entirely disappear, and it is possible to find heirs to those 19th-
century Old City excavators at different times and in various contexts.

Tunnel excavations following the 1967 war

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‫הרחוב והיציאה מהמנהרה בדוידסון‬

The exit of the tunnel in Davidson

Following the Six Day War, intensive archaeological activity began in and
around the Old City. Leading researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
were among those to conduct extensive excavations: Nahman Avigad in the
Moroccan Quarter; Benjamin Mazar south of the Temple Mount (Al-Haram AL-
Shareef) (the Ophel, no. 5 in the map), and Yigal Shiloh on the southeast hill of
ancient Jerusalem (the City of David).

There were also, however, non-scientific excavations: In 1969, at the initiative

of the Ministry of Religion, the excavation of a tunnel began along the Western Wall,
underneath the densely built-up Muslim Quarter houses that border the Temple
Mount/Haram al-Sharif. This excavation continued until the beginning of the 1990s,
and among other things re-exposed Warren‘s Gate, the gate leading from the Temple
Mount, beneath the present-day city level (no. 2 in the map). Although this was done
under the auspices of a government ministry, this excavation was for many years a
covert operation: it was unlicensed by the Israel Department of Antiquities (the
predecessor of the IAA) and no record was kept of its finds.

Opening the northern entrance of the tunnel in the Via Dolorosa

In the first phase of development of the tunnel, visitors had to enter and exit
through a single opening near the Western Wall. In 1993, the extension of the
Western Wall Tunnels through to the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter were
completed, although its opening was delayed until 1996. These were the early days of
Benjamin Netanyahu‘s first tenure as prime minister, less than a year after Yitzhak
Rabin‘s assassination and at the height of the political struggle with the Palestinian
Authority for political control of East Jerusalem.

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‫"מנהרת המוצא" שנחצבה כדי לאפשר את היציאה ממנהרות הכותל‬

The exit of the visitors

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Under the aegis of then Mayor Ehud Olmert, it was decided to open the
northern opening of the tunnel, on the Via Dolorosa. The opening of the tunnel—―the
rock of the Israeli existence‖—provoked violent demonstrations and clashes between
Israeli forces and Palestinians throughout the West Bank, in which dozens were killed
and hundreds were injured. With the cessation of the confrontations, the Western Wall
Heritage Fund began to use the northern exit of the tunnel in order to increase the
number of visitors to the Western Wall Tunnels. Thus the Western Wall Heritage
Fund expanded the area of its control up to the heart of the Muslim Quarter.

Temple Mount Charles Wilson and Charles Warren 1864

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Tunnel excavations under archaeological auspices

According to the Israeli report of Emek Sheva, based on the report no. 119 of
the IAA issued in 2007, since the mid-90s, the IAA has become the central and
virtually exclusive organization conducting excavations in the Old City and the
Historic Basin. The IAA is responsible for the conduct of excavations from the
Siloam Pool on the slopes of Silwan to Herod‘s Gate in the northern wall of the Old
City. Most of the excavations are done at the initiative of organizations other than the
IAA (governmental and non-governmental), whether as salvage excavations done
before construction work or as development excavations for tourism purposes.

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‫ חדר המלתחה‬,‫בית המרחץ הממלוכי‬

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Dressing room in the Mamluk bath (hamam) beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque

As for underground excavation activities, these began, modestly at first, in the

area of the Gihon Spring/‗Ein Umm al-Daraj (details below) at the request of the
settler organization, El‗ad, and the Israel Parks Authority. The turning point came in
2004 when, on the southern slopes of the City of David archaeological park—located
in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan—an ancient pool and the remains of a
Roman road leading up from it toward the Temple Mount were revealed. At the same
time, at the top of the Tyropean valley, extensive excavations began under the Ohel
Yitzhak Synagogue adjacent to the Western Wall plaza. For knowledgeable observers,
it was clear that these two enterprises, although occurring at a distance from one
another and seemingly separated by the walls of the Old City and the houses of Wadi
Hilweh, were in fact connected by the ancient streets and drainage channels
discovered back in the days of Bliss and Dickie (no. 7 in the map). It seems likely that
the idea was already broached to link up with those old excavations, both in a physical
sense (the rediscovery of old tunnels) and an ideological one (the renewal of the long-
abandoned method of tunnel excavations). Since 2004, the IAA has joined forces with
the ideological organizations that are developing the area of the Western Wall and the
City of David National Park and has begun to realize their plan to connect the City of
David to the Western Wall plaza in a single underground system.

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Extensive excavations in the Tyropean valley, under the Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue
adjacent to the Western Wall plaza

The system includes excavated galleries, ancient drainage channels, and large
underground spaces that were cleared of their contents. In 2005–2008, the IAA began
to conduct tunnel excavations both in Silwan and around the Western Wall—where
tunneling was employed to connect between the Ohel Yitzhak Synagogue and the
Western Wall Tunnels.

In the southern part of Silwan, in a lateral tunnel excavation, parts of the early
Roman street documented in the 19th century by Bliss and Dickie were
exposed. Further on up the slope, above the level of this road, a shaft was excavated
from above into Bliss and Dickie‘s tunnels in order to reveal a covered stone-built .
This drain seems to have run under the continuation of the same early Roman street.
Well over the height of an average person, the channel runs beneath Wadi Hilweh
Street and the adjacent houses, continues towards the Temple Mount excavations (the
Davidson Center), continuing north beneath the Western Wall plaza (no. 4 in the
map) It should be noted that the excavations in Silwan are funded by the El‗ad

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Organization, and conducted by the IAA as part of tourism development for the City
of David National Park.

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Since 2007, excavations have been taking place within the Western Wall
Tunnels and in the spaces that extend westward to El-Wad Street, beneath the
residential houses of the Muslim Quarter. Hundreds of square meters are under
excavation, and the works involve piercing ancient walls and removing large amounts
of fill, only some of which is methodically documented. These excavations are also to
a large extent a return to structures studied by early researchers such as Warren,
Hamilton, and others. They revealed remains from almost every important period in
the history of the city: a large hamam from the Mamluk period (Hamam al-‗Ein),
remains of Aelia Capitolina (the name of Jerusalem in the late Roman period),
remains from the early Roman era, and more.

In the area of the Old City and the village of Silwan are a number of ancient
underground complexes, hundreds or thousands of years old, that have been studied
during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The best known of these are
Zedekiah‘s Cave (aka Solomon‘s Quarries) in the Old City and the Siloam Tunnel and
Warren‘s Shaft in Silwan. These spaces are an important part of underground
Jerusalem.

Zekediah's Cave

Zedekiah‘s Cave is located under the northern houses of the Muslim Quarter.
Its entrance is found outside of the walls, between the Damascus Gate and Herod‘s
Gate. The site was prepared as a tourist site decades ago and is currently under the
jurisdiction of the East Jerusalem Development Company. Meanwhile, the Western
Wall Heritage Fund is searching for funding for the development of the site.

Zedekiah‘s Cave served as a quarry for hundreds and even thousands of years.
The first evidence for the use of the quarry is dated to the 2nd century B.C.E., and it
was apparently in use until the 15th century. This is one of the most breathtaking
man-made caves found today in Jerusalem, and it was used during a number of
periods, under many different rulers, and for a variety of purposes.

The Gihon Spring "Warren Shaft"

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Underground tunnel called "Warren's Shaft" dating back to the Bronze Age,
proven by scientists to be a Canaanite Jebusite well

In the ancient mound of Jerusalem there are two unique underground systems;
the Gihon Spring "Warren's Shaft" and the Siloam (Shiloah) Tunnel in the "City of
David".
The best known of these is the Siloam (Shiloah) Tunnel. The rock-carved
tunnel, over 500 meters long, carries the waters of the Gihon Spring/‗Ein Umm al-
Daraj (no. 8 in the map) —located in the Qidron Valley, between the two parts of the
village of Silwan–to the Pool of Siloam at the southern end of the ancient mound and
the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood. From the pool, the spring water runs down towards
the houses of Al-Bustan. The Siloam Tunnel system consists of a number of carved
tunnels and channels, some of which still conduct water and some of which are dry.

Studies of the tunnel date the first stages of its construction to the Canaanite
period (18th century B.C.E.—the Middle Bronze Age IIb).

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Midway between the top of the hill and the Gihon Spring, above the man-
made tunnel, lies a system of hewn passages connected to a vertical shaft of
apparently natural origin. This is Warren‘s Shaft, named after its 19th century
discoverer, and its dating, purpose, and precise function are disputed.

In the decade and a half since 1995, excavations have been taking place
around the Gihon Spring and the adjacent systems. These excavations are conducted
in the underground space beneath a residential structure and under the plaza facing
the Silwan elementary school.

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The drainage channel discovered in Silwan

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The stepped path connecting the drainage channel and the stepped (Herodian)
street

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Recently, excavations were extended by means of a tunnel dug westward,

under a stepped public path. These excavations connect to the stepped section
excavated in the 1960s by the archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. They revealed
impressive remains of a fortification dating to the Middle Bronze Age.

Tunnel excavations as narrative

The IAA effects an interesting manipulation in its portrayal of the excavations

in the Historic Basin. In its response to an Israel Supreme Court petition (no. 08/1308)
submitted by the residents of Wadi Hilweh, the IAA claims that:

"The clearing out of the ancient drain underneath the houses in the village is
little more than the rediscovery and cleaning of a channel whose existence has
been long known."

.‫ – תשובת רשות העתיקות בהתייחסות לתעלת הניקוז בסילוואן‬1301/01 ‫בג"ץ‬

‫בג"ץ (בית המשפט הגבוה לצדק‬
Supreme Court - the IAA letter in response to the Silwan drainage channel

This claim allows the IAA to emphasize that its tunnels are a fait accompli,
and that its actions therefore do not pose any new threat to the houses above. At the
same time, the IAA publicly advertises its discoveries as new and exciting. Another
aspect is connected to the mythological status of past researchers: although some of

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their conclusions have become outdated, their adventurous spirit, their boldness and
originality have turned their research and activities into an object of admiration. It
thus becomes easy to embrace the old narrative that views archaeology as a bastion of
Western science, and the opposition to it as a symbol of Oriental ignorance. - (This
description is a literal translation of what is stated in the Israeli report of Emek
Shaveh).

This archaeological myth apparently enables the IAA to ignore changing

methods and changing social and political realities. It comes as no surprise, therefore,
that the IAA relieves itself of any responsibility toward the local Palestinian
population, neither informing it of its intents, or consulting with it as work proceeds.

Once the Roman drain has been opened, visitors will be able to take a circular
walking trail in underground Jerusalem, beginning (or ending) near the Western Wall.
From the area of the Western Wall, the path will go through the Roman drain/road to
the Givati parking lot (no. 6 in the map), just a short distance from the City of David
visitors‘ center. There the tunnels of the Gihon and Warren‘s Shaft can be accessed,
and at their exit, at the Pool of Siloam, the underground part of the Herodian stepped
street can be reentered, leading back to ancient drain that leads back up at the
Davidson Center, near the Western Wall. Those who walk along this path are relieved
of the need to confront the present reality of Jerusalem. The circuit is meant to create
a visiting experience in a parallel, imagined, Jerusalem, among the remains of two
periods: the Kingdom of Judah and the Second Commonwealth. These two periods
are identified, in the Israeli narrative, as the most meaningful periods for the
formation of Israeli identity and the connection of the Jewish people to the land. The
end (or beginning) of the path near the Western Wall plaza emphasizes the close
connection between underground Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the most holy
place for the Jews.

According to the version marketed to the public, the excavations in the village
of Silwan exposed a pool, a street, and a drainage and sewage system, all dated to the
1st century B.C.E. (Second Temple period), and no more. These structures allow the
visitor to relive the experience of making pilgrimage to the Temple in its glory, while
also making palpable its destruction. In a new publicity film shown by the IAA on its
website, the connection is presented between the ‗Herodian‘ street in the Western
Wall plaza on the one hand, and the tunnels and channels within Silwan, on the other.

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In this manner the aegis of the Western Wall extends itself to include the whole
eastern ridge of ancient Jerusalem and the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood.

The IAA and its patrons–the Elad Organization, the Western Wall Heritage
Fund, and others—work hand in hand in order to diminish both Jewish history and the
history of Jerusalem. All of Jewish history is compressed into the short periods of
Israelite-Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem, while cultural layers that are not associated
with Jewish political sovereignty or with the sacrificial cult are ignored.

The history of Jerusalem is stripped both of the eras that preceded the
Kingdom of Israel, and of what came after it, when it became the Holy City for the
Christians and Al-Quds for the Muslims.

Moreover, the story told about the tunnels serves as a means of justifying
Israeli settlement in the Palestinian village of Silwan and in the Muslim Quarter of the
Old City. The tunnels create an underground Jewish-Israelite city that transforms
those in charge, i.e., the Israeli settlers, into inhabitants, and the disempowered, i.e.,
the Palestinian residents, into a temporary presence.

The report of Emek Shaveh concludes the issue of digging tunnels and wells
of the bottom Jerusalem under false pretexts for Judaizing Jerusalem as follows:

- The excavation of tunnels in the heart of the city entails, first and foremost, the
exploitation of an ostensibly scientific-archeological means for the sake of
literally undermining the lives of those who live above them.
- the political use that is being made of archaeology. The system of
underground tunnels creates a parallel, ancient and unsullied city that pretends
to represent the real Jerusalem, a Jerusalem preceding and disconnected from
any conflict. This underground city renders the existing multicultural and
conflicted city redundant while making control of the Historic Basin seem like
a necessity in the eyes of the Israeli public, even at the cost of thwarting any
political agreement.

In "Palestine in a month", we conclude our cause by refuting the misleading

allegations on the Judaization of Jerusalem as follows:

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First: Gihon tunnel and spring:

The Jebusites built a fortress on the south-eastern mound of Jerusalem called

the "Fortress of Jebus". This fort is the oldest building in Jerusalem until now. The
Jebusites chose this place for building their fort is the strategic natural advantages.
This eastern site is naturally endowed with a spring abundant in water in the "Kidron"
valley known as "Gihon" (the Virgin Spring). The Jebusites dug a tunnel under the
mountain to transfer water to the inside of the fort.

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King Hezekiah did not build the Silwan tunnel.. the Jebusites did

Although the it was the Jebusites who built the Silwan tunnel to supply their
fort with water, but the biblical history scientists attributed this tunnel to King
Hezekiah based on a water pond mentioned in the Bible narratives, a part of which is
a roofed channel, while the other part is a tunnel carved in the rock, and it carries the
water from the spring to the Kidron Valley. This channel is linked with other
Canaanite archaeology discovered in the area surrounding the spring dating to the 17-
18th century BC.
Despite the fact that this tunnel is also known as the Ezekiah tunnel, based on
the biblical references talking about a pond and a channel built by King Ezekiah, the
name of this king was not mentioned in the inscription written in the ancient
Canaanite language on the walls of the tunnel.

The Silwan inscription

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The fortress of Jebus was later known as the fortress of Zion, established on
Mount "Zion". Later, the Seleucids established a fortress there named "Acra".
Excavations carried out in the layers of the old Bronze age in Jerusalem revealed in
1961 the remains of the first wall which was built by the Jebusites on Mount Zion,
and exposed a section of the foundations and extensions of the buildings.

The recent excavations at "Al-Nab'a" spring and the water system show that
the first control of the spring water was during the mid-Bronze Age (nearly 1700 BC),
when a large number of forts were built. The pond was dug into the rock and the
horizontal section of Warren's shaft was dug to allow the residents to access the
spring and the pond.
Today, the spring's water is transferred via a channel dug into the rock (the
second channel) to the south along the valley, perhaps to pour in an unexplored water
tank.

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The second Jebusite Canaanite channel of Silwan

This network, dating back to the mid-Bronze Age, witnessed the hydrological
and engineering development of the Canaanites in the eighth century BC. When the
Silwan tunnel was dug in the rocky foundations, the vertical section of the tunnel was
discovered, which was discovered by "Warren" and was connected to the old system.
Finally, the famous Israeli archaeologist "Roni Reich" from the University of Haifa
and "Eli Shukron" from the IAA proved that:
"The Silwan tunnel is Jebusite Canaanite, and was not built in the reign of King
Ezekiah".

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Professor Roni Reich in Lower Jerusalem

Moreover, there is skepticism from the scientific public over the attribution of the
date of the construction of the tunnel to King Ezekiah, where Reich and Shukron say in
their book:
Reconsidering the history of the Siloam tunnel, Tel Aviv, 147 - 157: 38, 2011.

The Israeli archaeologist Ronny Reich was interviewed by Nir Hasson. The
interview was published in Haaretz on March 21, 2012, in which Reich admitted
that the Silwan tunnel is Jebusite Canaanite

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"The evidence suggests that the construction of the tunnel dates back to the late
nineteenth century and the beginning of the eighth century BC" ...
They added that "there is nothing in Torah determining the place of the
construction of water stations during the reign of Ezekiah".

They suggested that the water stations constructed to face the Assyrian army in the
area of "Mamilla, outside the Old City, to the west of the Jaffa Gate.

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