Mughrabi Bridge

 The Mughrabi Bridge ascent to the Temple Mount

was destroyed by severe weather in 2004.

This temporary bridge was constructed

and is still in use.

It is the only way for non-Muslims to enter the Temple Mount

and is used by tourists from around the world.

For a while the lower part of the structure was covered with white fabric.

The women’s area near the Kotel, the Western Wall was made much smaller.

For some time now, engineers have said that the structure is no longer safe.

Yesterday the Prime Minister Netanyahu stopped a project, approved in March,

  to replace the Mughrabi Bridge with a permanent structure.

With the dark sky as background…

this is what the fuss is about,

this simple wooden ramp.

Jordan and Egypt have warned against proceeding with repair work.

There were rockets fired overnight from Lebanon into the North.

  Rocket fire from Gaza continues to threaten Israeli citizens in the South.

What is the greater threat to peace?

16 thoughts on “Mughrabi Bridge

  • November 29, 2011 at 12:30 pm
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    lovely pics! we pray for mashiach soon!

    Reply
  • November 29, 2011 at 1:37 pm
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    Your comment: Jordan and Egypt have warned against proceeding with repair work. So let Jordan and Egypt repair AND PAY for the repairs. And….. let Jordan and Egypt jointly be held responsible for any deaths or injuries resulting from the collapse of the bridge. This is a no win situation for Israel. Israel is “not allowed” to repair the bridge, and should any Muslim be injured, it would be considered a “declaration of war”. There are some really stupid and hateful people in this world.

    Reply
  • November 29, 2011 at 9:24 pm
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    It is about access for non-Moslems to the Temple Mount and the fact that Israel, aka the Jews, control Jerusalem. Israel needs to take care of the bridge if for no other reason than to tell the world that noone will tell Jews what to do in their capital city, and that noone will tell Jews that they have no right to the Temple Mount. Time to stop placating those that hate Israel no matter what Israel does. While I understand that Bibi probably doesn’t want to give the Arabs a reason for another Intifada, he forgets they dont’ need a real reason they are always willing to make up a lie anyway.

    BTW love all your pictures all the time. Thank you for sharing such beauty.

    Reply
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  • November 30, 2011 at 1:22 pm
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    Hereunder, are a few points regarding the bridge and it is well worth reading.
    This article is written by Nadav Shragai and published October 2011 – The Jerusalem Viewpoints series is published by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs, founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. No. 585 September-October 2011

    The Mughrabi Gate to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:
    The Urgent Need for a Permanent Access Bridge

    * The new bridge, did not endanger and do not endanger the mosques on the Temple Mount which are located hundreds of meters from it.
    * Israel has acted with total transparency no work is being conducted inside the Haram es-Sharif
    * Jordanians have been partners in the planning of the new Mughrabi Bridge. After negotiations lasting years, an understanding was signed on 21 June 2011 between Israel and Jordan
    * The erection of a new bridge is legal from the perspective of both Israeli law and international law.
    * Nearly eight years later, Israel is about to replace the hazardous, temporary bridge with a more stable, permanent bridge. This has elicited severe criticism and baseless incitement against the State of Israel in radical Muslim circles, who accuse Israel of endangering the mosques on the Temple Mount and scheming to seek their collapse as part of a plot to Judaize Jerusalem.
    * The Jews were humiliated when they came to worship at Western Wall via diverse and absurd prohibitions were rescinded. (For example, it was decreed that Jews could only pray while standing, they were prohibited from blowing the shofar, the number of Torah scrolls at the site was limited, and passage was afforded to domestic animals in the Western Wall alleyway.)
    * After the Mughrabi Ascent collapsed on 14 February 2004, Israeli officials, sensitive to repeated accusations that Israel seeks to undermine the mosques on the Temple Mount, invited one of the Waqf leaders to the site and showed him what had transpired. The Waqf representative promised to convey the facts to his colleagues, but the very next day Israel was accused of conspiring to cause the collapse of the Temple Moun
    * Expressions of incitement against Israel reached new heights, inflaming the atmosphere. Sheikh Raed Salah declared: “Whoever is playing with fire should know that the fire will consume him and whoever schemes to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque will have his house destroyed.”19 Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas Political Bureau, told a press conference in Damascus on 4 February 2007, “Israel is perpetrating a new attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Islamic Jihad in Gaza announced that it had launched rockets toward the Israeli town of Sderot in response to the digs at the Mughrabi Ascent.20 Hamas television warned: “A danger hovers over Jerusalem.”21 Rafiq al-Husseini, the Director of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Bureau, declared: “The Palestinian Authority will provide every assistance to the struggle against the Jewish excavations under the Temple Mount.”22 The northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel proclaimed: “The objective of the work is to transform the [Al Aqsa] mosque into a synagogue.”23
    * These claims and similar claims that frequently appear in the Arab media are baseless.
    The bridge is hundreds of meters away from the mosques and could not undermine or damage their foundations.
    * Israel allowed all interested parties to visit the site and examine the claims. Representatives of the Jordanian government visited the site, as did a delegation from Turkey and a delegation on behalf of UNESCO. In February 2007, UNESCO had dispatched a delegation to inspect the excavations at the Mughrabi Ascent and on 12 March 2007 the delegation’s report was published.26 The report determines, inter alia, that “no work is being conducted inside the Haram es-Sharif [Temple Mount], nor is there anything in the nature of the works being performed at this stage that could constitute a threat to the stability of the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque” (Article 17).

    * Jordan, which held eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount until 1967, was involved in the planning process of the new Mughrabi Bridge. Already during the initial stages, Israel made sure to update and coordinate most of the measures on this matter with the Hashemite Monarchy. In the early 2000s, Israel allowed Jordan to play a major role in repairs and renovations of the Southern and Eastern Walls of the Temple Mount complex after cracks and swellings were discovered which endangered their stability. Jordan was also part of the understandings that allowed the opening of the Temple Mount to Jews and tourists after it had been closed during the first three years of the Second Intifada.
    * When the Mughrabi Ascent collapsed, Israel established almost immediate contact with Jordan and throughout the years the Jordanians have been partners in the planning of the new Mughrabi Bridge. However, Jordan cast a veto that lasted several years on the construction of the new bridge. Among other things, the Jordanians demanded that Israel be barred from working on the bridge and to perform the work themselves. Israel refused, but continued to discuss the matter with Jordan, although formally Jordan has no official or unofficial status in the areas outside the Temple Mount complex
    The Jordanian petition was tantamount to stabbing Israel in the back, after it had cooperated with Jordan on the Mughrabi Bridge issue. Jordan has no status outside the Temple Mount, and the entire cooperation with it on this issue went beyond what was required of Israel.
    * On 21 March 2007, a delegation of experts from Turkey visited the Mughrabi Gate. The visit resulted from a meeting that took place a month earlier between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The delegation was convinced that the excavations were performed by professional archaeological teams and that the Temple Mount mosques were in no danger as a result. The delegation did not publish its findings, in order to maintain Turkey’s good relations with the Arab states.

    * Dr. Shmuel Berkowitz also noted that the Mughrabi Ascent is not a holy site and the directives applying to such sites in the Hague Convention and International Heritage Convention do not apply to it. Under Israeli law, he stressed, eastern Jerusalem has been legally unified with western Jerusalem and all of Jerusalem’s laws apply there, including to the Temple Mount. Furthermore, the international perception of Israel as an occupier in “East Jerusalem,” where the Temple Mount is located, is biased. Israel captured eastern Jerusalem in a defensive war when it was attacked by Jordan. Israel’s international legal status in Jerusalem relies upon the Mandate for Palestine, where the League of Nations – the source of international legitimacy prior to the establishment of the United Nations – acknowledged the “historical ties of the Jewish People to Palestine.” The League of Nations did not distinguish between the rights of Jews in Jerusalem and their rights in the rest of the Land of Israel The legality of Jordan’s control of “East Jerusalem” was never acknowledged by any country in the world other than Pakistan.

    * Needless to say, there has never been any basis to the venomous claim that Israel is endangering the Temple Mount mosques or seeks to cause their collapse. Radical elements such as Raad Salah have utilized the events at the Mughrabi Ascent to increase their own status, incite against Israel, and attempt to destabilize Israeli sovereignty in a unified Jerusalem.

    Reply
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