CNN said the following and unfortunately and unsurprisingly those claims were proven right.
The site itself, along with the nearby City of David, is contentious, because it is an Israeli archaeological dig in East Jerusalem next to a Palestinian neighborhood. Critics say the dig is politically motivated to extend Jewish claims over East Jerusalem and the Old City: archaeological finds become historical justifications (CNN, December 4, 2015.)I can well believe that the archaeologists themselves are not trying to be political. It should be like that. But unfortunately because of the turbulent situation that is not the case. It is not just archaeology. It is tainted by the tragic and deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the current wave of violence that has erupted in the Holy Land since October 1 over 100 Palestinians and about 20 Israelis have been killed.
This wave of violence erupted because Israeli authorities were forbidding some Palestinians from entering Al Aqsa Mosque while some Israeli Jews were at the same time being allowed to visit the grounds. (Imagine if authorities forbade WCG members from entering Ambassador College or church at Pasadena. How would we react to such a restriction?) Some of those Israeli Jews allowed in by the Israeli authorities were extremists who were even praying there breaking the agreement the State of Israel made concerning the site. Alas, the violence has since taken on a life of its own independent of what happens there.
The violence is a symptom of the current political crisis. Political solutions are required. We need peace now.
Among other things if there is peace then archaeologists can excavate without their work getting politicized.
We need peace now.
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