Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount
The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount is a group of archaeologists, intellectuals and other prominent individuals in Israel formed in response to concerns about damage to antiquities from excavations at the Temple Mount and alleged attempts by the Jerusalem Waqf to remove archeological evidence of a Jewish Temple at the Temple Mount.

Background
The committee was founded in January 2000 by archeologists Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University, Gabriel Barkay, and other prominent individuals in response to a protruding bulge discovered in 2000 in the Temple Mount's southwest corner.

Activities
The committee has alleged that the Jerusalem Waqf attempted to remove archeological evidence that a Jewish temple ever stood at the Temple Mount by opening a mosque at Solomon's Stables in 1999. To monitor the waqf's construction at the site, the committee hired aircraft in the early 2000s to take aerial photos and monitor for construction progress.

For decades, the committee pushed for efforts to analyze dirt and rubble dug up during Muslim construction at the Temple Mount site, which Muslim and Jordanian authorities have rejected. Between 2004 and 2017, volunteers associated with the committee went through the dirt removed by the Waqf from the site during construction, discovering half a million pieces of rubble from the First Temple and Second Temple eras. The committee filed a petition to the Israel Supreme Court in 2004 to prevent the Israeli government and Jerusalem Waqf from removing 3,000 tons of dirt from the Temple Mount site. Justice Jacob Turkel granted the group's petition. In 2005, the group publicly criticized the Israeli government for not stopping Waqf construction on the Temple Mount.

In 2018, Zachi Dvira, on behalf of the committee, shared video footage of a multi-date "beautification project" by Muslim volunteers removing earth and stones from atop the Temple Mount, which he claimed were dumped by the Waqf during unauthorized excavations since the early 2000s. Archeologists had been prevented by Israeli and Muslim authorities from examining the contents.

Members
Members have been from a broad swath of Israeli society, from archeologists to members of the security establishment to politicians. These include former mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek, poet Haim Gouri, Amos Oz, and A.B. Yehoshua.

See also
Temple Mount Sifting Project
Excavations at the Temple Mount

External links
Committee home page

References

Non-profit organizations based in Israel
Archaeological organizations
Temple Mount

Archaeology of Israel