Israeli cabinet approves Jerusalem excavations

By Corinne Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet decided on Sunday to press ahead with archaeological digging outside Jerusalem's most contentious religious site despite Arab protests, a government official said.

"All the ministers agreed the work being done does not harm Islamic holy sites in any way," the official said.

Israel's archaeological authority is searching for ancient artifacts some 50 meters (yards) from Haram al-Sharif, a compound in Arab East Jerusalem that houses the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque.

Arab leaders and Muslim clerics charge the excavations could damage the foundations of the holy sites, an allegation Israeli officials said was politically motivated.

Once the excavations are completed, Israel plans to proceed with a project to build a pedestrian bridge to the complex to replace a ramp damaged in a snowstorm and an earthquake in 2004.

Jews revere the compound, overlooking Judaism's Western Wall, as Temple Mount, where two destroyed biblical temples once stood.

"The government approved continuation of construction at the approach to the Mughrabi Gate (leading into the complex) within the proposed framework, at all possible speed," the official said. "Three ministers abstained."

He said the excavations were likely to go on for at least eight months and Israeli authorities would soon install cameras at the site so that images of the archaeological dig could be viewed on the Internet.

PROTESTS

On Friday, some 200 Israeli police wielding batons stormed protesters who threw stones at them at the plaza outside al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest shrine, in a confrontation in which 17 Palestinians and 15 police officers were injured.

During that protest, police also evacuated Jewish worshippers from the Western Wall site.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the ramp, used by tourists and when necessary, Israeli security forces, was a dangerous structure that needed renovating.

"There is no religious issue here," he said in broadcast remarks, accusing "Arab extremists" of inciting violence.

In East Jerusalem, Israeli police confronted protesters for a third straight day and arrested five, said Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the national police.

The Arab League condemned the dig at a meeting in Cairo on Saturday and demanded Western nations force Israel "to stop this aggression immediately".