THE first minaret of its kind for 600 years exists only as a computer-generated model.
But soon it may rise 42 metres (130ft) above the ancient walls of
Jerusalem, calling the faithful to prayer at the al-Aqsa mosque on
perhaps the most disputed site in the world.
King
Abdullah II of Jordan this week announced a competition to design a
fifth minaret for the walls of the Haram al-Sharif-Temple Mount
complex, in the Old City, imprinting his Hashemite dynasty on the
third-holiest site in Islam.
There are four existing minarets dating back to Mamluk or Ottoman times.
The new addition would, the King said, “reflect the Islamic significance and sanctity of the mosque”.
The scheme is likely to cost £200,000. The plans are for a
seven-sided tower — after the seven-pointed Hashemite star — and at 42
metres it would be 3.5 metres (11ft) taller than the next-largest
minaret. It would not overlook the Western Wall sacred to Jews;
instead, it will face east, overlooking the Mount of Olives.
But although its Jordanian backers insist that the minaret is
about heritage, not politics, nothing is apolitical in Jerusalem,
certainly not architecture.
The Temple-Haram site is administered by an Islamic Waqf
(religious trust) but the entire area has been under Israeli occupation
since being captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
In recent years building work has proved hugely controversial.
In 1996 about 70 people, mostly Palestinians, were killed in
riots after Binyamin Netanyahu’s Government opened a new tunnel leading
to the Western Wall.
In 2002 a bulge in the city’s southern wall provoked Israeli
rightwingers to accuse the Waqf of endangering the site with massive
excavations designed, they alleged, to remove ancient Jewish artefacts.
The Waqf, in turn, accused the Israeli rightwingers of seeking a pretext to seize total control of the site.
Raif Yousuf Nijem, a Jordanian engineer and acting president of the restoration committee of the al-Aqsa mosque, told The Times
that in spending half a billion dollars in restoration, maintenance and
administration since the 1920s the Hashemite monarchy simply wanted to
establish an architectural heritage in line with the Umayyads,
Abbasids, Ayyoubis, Mamluks and Ottomans before them.
“The last minaret was at the time of the Ottomans, but the
site of the al-Aqsa represents the whole period of Islamic history,” he
said.
Mr Nijem oversaw the $6 million (£3.5 million) project to
restore the al-Aqsa mosque funded by Abdullah’s father, King Hussein,
when it was nearly burnt down in 1969, and the $10 million restoration
of the Dome of the Rock — which required 85kg (187lb) of 24-carat
liquid gold.
“It has nothing to do with any politics,” he insisted. “King
Hussein used to tell Yassir Arafat and his people that he did not aim
for anything political in repairing and restoring this place. Whenever
the Palestinians reach an agreement with the Israelis, we will quit.”
“But if we leave the site now it means that the Israelis will
be responsible for it. If the Hashemites go, we will leave a political
vacuum.” The Israeli Government — in the midst of a series of important
Jewish holidays — remains non-commital. “An official request has not
been submitted, but nevertheless we are aware of the issue and of this
tender that was publicised. We are checking it to determine our stand,”
a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. As the project takes shape
thousands of Jews flocked to the Western Wall to celebrate Sukkot. But
beneath the celebrations disharmonies could still be heard.
Atop the plaza one skullcapped Israeli with a megaphone
appealed: “Donate now, to strengthen the [Jewish] settlements in the
Old City.”
At checkpoints a few hundred metres away hundreds of
Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli border police, protesting against
restrictions on entry to Friday prayers in the Haram al-Sharif during
Ramadan.
