Though it has stood for over 2,000 years, the Western Wall apparently still needs some work - which began this week. Several large stones were taken down from the wall this week with the help of two large cranes in an operation authorized by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The reason for the works: A worshipper was hurt on Yom Kippur Eve when a small stone fell and injured him. The work was overseen by Rabbi Shmuel Hershkovitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, and by archaeologist Dan Bahat. Each stone was marked so that it can be returned to its proper place at the end of the works.
Around the corner and to the south, Israeli and world experts fear that the Temple Mount\'s southern retaining wall may be in danger of collapse. A careful study of aerial photographs of the Mount shows that the wall was bulging outwards to the south. Israel, not wishing to carry out any renovations itself, offered to help the Islamic Waqf in renovating the wall in order to prevent its collapse but has not yet received a response. It is feared that if the wall in fact collapses, the Arab world would likely blame it on a religious-Israeli plot, and an all-out war would ensue. Israeli archaeologists have been carrying out excavations some meters away from the foot of the southern wall since 1967.
Around the corner and to the south, Israeli and world experts fear that the Temple Mount\'s southern retaining wall may be in danger of collapse. A careful study of aerial photographs of the Mount shows that the wall was bulging outwards to the south. Israel, not wishing to carry out any renovations itself, offered to help the Islamic Waqf in renovating the wall in order to prevent its collapse but has not yet received a response. It is feared that if the wall in fact collapses, the Arab world would likely blame it on a religious-Israeli plot, and an all-out war would ensue. Israeli archaeologists have been carrying out excavations some meters away from the foot of the southern wall since 1967.