Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - One week after three members of the Wakf Muslim Religious Trust were arrested for attacking a group of Jewish archeologists visiting the Temple Mount, police on Wednesday detained five members of the Jordanian organization for breaching archeological laws at the contested holy site.

The suspects erected scaffolding next to the Dome of the Rock and proceeded to make illegal structural changes without coordinating with the Israel Antiquities Authority, police said on Thursday.

It is believed that the First and Second Temples once stood where the Dome of the Rock is located.

Four of the five detainees were identified in Arab media as Bassam al-Hallaq, Issa Salhab, Bahaa Abu Sbeih and Saed Abu Sneina. They were taken to a detention facility in the Old City and interrogated, police said.

All five men have been barred from the compound for five days, pending an ongoing investigation, police said.

On July 27, three members of the Wakf were arrested for attacking a group of Israeli archeologists visiting the plateau, including Zachi Dvira, co-head of The Temple Mount Sifting Project, which sifts through tons of earth illegally removed from the compound.

In 1999, thousands of years’ worth of fragile and irreplaceable Jewish archaeological antiquities were surreptitiously dug up by Arab bulldozers there to build an entrance to a subterranean mosque.

The resulting thousands of tons of invaluable debris – believed to contain over 1 million artifacts dating back to the First Temple period – were then carted off in dump trunks and discarded like garbage to a nearby landfill in Jerusalem’s Kidron Valley.

According to Zachi, the attack, which was partially filmed by a cell phone, took place after one of the archeologists in the group attempted to pick up a rock.

Despite being shaken by the assault, Zachi said it “only strengthened our resolve to study the Temple Mount – all periods of the Temple Mount – and share the archaeological truths about its history to encourage educated discussion about this most holy and also contested site.”

The three assailants are expected to stand trial at Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for the assault.

*JP