JERUSALEM — Jordanian experts are set to oversee repairs in the southern retaining wall of Jerusalem’s biblical-era Temple Mount, resolving a simmering dispute over whether Israelis or Palestinians should supervise the work.
Archaeologists with Israel’s Antiquities Authority had earlier expressed fears the wall could collapse after a 35-foot-wide bulge developed on the face of the stone, visible from the areas around the mount.
The bulge had developed two years after the construction of a mosque in an underground chamber just inside the Mount compound, known to Muslims as Al Haram al-Sharif.
According to a spokesman for the Wakf, the Muslim agency that oversees the mount, a technical team from Jordan took samples from the wall Oct. 7 and is reportedly set to deliver the samples to the Royal Scientific Society in Amman where they will be analyzed.
Since September 2000, when Palestinian-Israeli clashes first erupted on the mount during a visit there by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon, all non-Muslims have been barred from the site by the Wakf.
This impeded attempts by Israeli archaeologists to inspect and oversee construction work and repairs.
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