Community Organizer to PNN: New Tunnel Under Silwan to the Western Wall

Jerusalem - PNN Exclusive/Maysa Abu Ghazaleh - On Tuesday, Fakhri Abu Diyab from the committee to defend the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem told PNN that the Jerusalem municipality had dug a new tunnel under Silwan all the way up to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Western Wall.

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In a phone call with PNN Diyab said this is the seventh tunnel to be dug in the village. The tunnel connects Silwan water wells all the way up towards the north and goes under the old road to Al-Aqsa mosque, he said.

The tunnel connects an Israeli settlement in Silwan to the Western Wall, said Diyab.

The tunnel will be opened within a month, said Diyab, and will connect all the past tunnels together. He warned that residents' houses have suffered damage due to digging under their foundation.

During the work in digging the tunnel, Diyab told PNN, workers found a golden bell dating back to the second era of Jerusalem.

As part of their efforts to prove claims of the ancient Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, settler organizations and right-wing groups have persuaded the Israeli government to dig tunnels under the old city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, as well as nearby neighborhoods.

Diyab said the digging has caused a great amount of damage to the Al-Aqsa compound, the third holiest site for Muslims worldwide.

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