[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 756 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 756

 Condemning the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and 
  deploring the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, 
                      Christian and Muslim faiths.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 18, 2007

   Mr. Cantor (for himself and Ms. Berkley) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the Wakf's digging activities at the Temple Mount site and 
  deploring the destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, 
                      Christian and Muslim faiths.

Whereas the Temple Mount, located in the ancient city of Jerusalem, Israel, has 
        tremendous religious significance to the world's three major 
        monotheistic religions;
Whereas according to the Jewish faith, the Temple Mount is the location where 
        Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, in the ultimate test 
        of his commitment to God;
Whereas the Temple Mount was also the site of the First and Second Holy Temples;
Whereas according to Christianity, Jesus was dedicated on the Temple Mount in 
        the Second Temple in accordance with the Law of Moses;
Whereas Jesus referred to the Biblical Temple as His Father's House;
Whereas Muslims believe that Mohammed ascended to heaven from the Temple Mount 
        to make the Night Journey to the Throne of Allah;
Whereas in June 1967, Jerusalem once again became a united city under Israel's 
        sovereignty;
Whereas the State of Israel has been legally responsible for the Temple Mount 
        since 1967 and has been respectful of the religious practices of Jews, 
        Christians, and Muslims at the site;
Whereas Israel maintains overall security control of the site;
Whereas the Wakf, or Islamic Trust, conducts day-to-day administration of the 
        compound;
Whereas Wakf officials have repeatedly denied the existence of the First and 
        Second Jewish Temples;
Whereas the Wakf has a stained history of damaging sensitive Jewish and 
        Christian cultural sites;
Whereas in August 1999 the Wakf dug a large stairway at the Temple Mount leading 
        down to an underground mosque, dumping thousands of tons of 
        archaeologically rich soil into the adjacent Kidron Valley;
Whereas Israel's Supreme Court declared in 1993 that the Wakf had violated 
        Israel's antiquities laws on 35 occasions;
Whereas in the summer of 2007 Wakf officials began some of the most extensive 
        work on the Temple Mount site in more than a decade using tractors and 
        other heavy construction machinery to create a 400-meter-long and 1.5-
        meter-deep trench to replace electrical cables and water pipes;
Whereas in some areas of the Temple Mount the bedrock is only a half meter deep, 
        endangering structures that have been in place for thousands of years;
Whereas among the antiquities removed include a 7-meter-wide wall widely 
        believed to date back to the Second Temple;
Whereas irresponsible or destructive construction and digging threaten to damage 
        this sacred site; and
Whereas leading Israeli archaeologists have warned of irreversible damage to 
        Jerusalem's holiest artifacts: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives condemns the Wakf's 
digging activities at the Temple Mount site and deplores the 
destruction of artifacts vitally important to Jewish, Christian and 
Muslim faiths.
                                 <all>