International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, July 20, 2004

A group of senior Israeli archeologists have condemned plans by the Islamic Wakf that administers the Muslim shrines on the Temple Mount to remove thousands of tons of earth and rubble mixed with archeological artifacts uncovered during recent construction work.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday, the nonpartisan Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount deplored the action as "an irrevocable and most serious archeological, cultural, and scientific crime at the state's most important antiquities site," according to The Jerusalem Post.