01x21 - Holy Hot Spot

[bunniefuu]

[music]

I'm going on an adventure.

There's only one way to figure it all out.

Unzip the archeology. Make it naked.

[music]

[SIMCHA] Archaeology can be dangerous.

Digging has natural hazards.

Desert heat, freezing cold, falling rocks.

Cave-ins.

This tunnel is one of the most dangerous digs in the world.

Eighty-five people d*ed because of it.

The tunnel was opened in .

The Jews said it provided access to a holy site.

The Muslims said it undermined their holy places.

So there were riots, g*nf*re and dead.

The tunnel mattered because it was dug here.

Behind me is literally the most important...

...piece of real estate on the planet.

At least it is the most important piece of real estate..

...for the three great western religions:

Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

And they argue about it.

Especially the Muslims and the Jews...

..because the Muslims have built the Dome of the Rock there.

One of their holiest places.

The Jews say you built it on top of where...

...the temple of Solomon stood for five hundred years,

and where the second temple stood...

...for another five hundred years.

Underneath it is still the holiest place in Judaism,

which is the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall.

It's here that when Messiah comes,

Jews believe that the temple will be re-built.

Christians believe that too,

and Muslims say that it can't be here.

That's where the dome of the rock belongs.

There were no temples over here.

This is a contentious place.

A place that people are willing to fight and die for.

[SIMCHA] Why is this one of the holiest places on Earth?

Why is this one of the most dangerous?

And if you're an archaeologist, how do you work here?

You tread lightly. This is the Middle East.

Digging disturbs the land.

And the battles here are about who owns the land.

[SIMCHA] To uncover the reasons why this place is so holy...

...we need to dig into the past.

To the sacred texts: the Torah, the Gospels and the Koran.

Gaby Barkay, archaeologist from Bar-Ilan University.

He's brought me to the southwestern edge...

..of the Temple Mount...

...to explain the significance of this place...

...to Christians and Jews.

We are here next to the wall...

...surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

This is the place where according to tradition,

the first rock created by the Almighty is located

and the rest of the world was created around it.

This is the place where from dirt was taken...

...in order to create Adam.

This is the place where the coal came in...

...to have Abraham sacrifice his son.

This is the place in which King Solomon...

...in the th century BC built the first temple.

The first home upon earth for the Lord God of Israel to dwell.

This is the place where Jesus came...

...and was presented when he was an infant.

This is the place where he turned up the tables...

...of the moneychangers later in his career.

[SIMCHA] Christians and Jews aren't the only players here.

This is one of the world's oldest Islamic structures.

Islam believes that from here the prophet Mohammed...

...ascended to heaven to receive instruction on how to pray.

Speaking of prayer, most of us recognize this.

And this.

But when we say the Temple Mount,

or what the Muslims call The Noble Sanctuary,

we're talking about this entire enclosure,

roughly the size of football fields.

But how did it all start?

Legend has it that here on this outcrop of white limestone,

Abraham bound his son to sacrifice him to God.

Jews, Muslims and Christians...

...share versions of Abraham's story.

That's the last thing they share...

...when it comes to the Temple Mount.

The real disagreements start with Solomon.

Jews believe God told King Solomon to build a Temple.

God's House on Earth.

That magnificent Temple...

...one of antiquity's greatest buildings...

...stood for years.

Then in B.C.,

the Babylonians knocked Gods house to the ground.

It was rebuilt, but only a shadow of its former glory.

During the time of Jesus it was restored.

But it wasn't to be. The Romans burnt the Temple.

After standing for nearly years,

the Temple was gone.

Why does the Temple long gone matter today?

The Jews say the Temple stood here and the land is ours.

The Muslims say, there was no Temple, the land is Muslim.

If you could find archaeological evidence of the Temple...

...the result could prove expl*sive.

I'm on my way to look at the results...

...of one of the first digs ever to take place on the Mount.

[SIMCHA] Just how dangerous is this place?

The Talmud, the Gospels and the Koran,

all connect this place with the end of the world.

So how can archeologists interested in the Mount...

...work in such a complicated political environment?

Part of the answer is that they work in unconventional ways.

This material comes from a dump.

Why was it in a dump?

In , the Islamic authority excavated these fire exits...

...from this mosque on the Temple Mount.

They dumped the earth they moved into a valley.

Barkay transferred that material to here.

To the Islamic authority it was trash.

To Barkay it's treasure.

So you basically said...

...I am going to sift through this "so-called" garbage?

I do not call it "garbage".

This is valuable material.

This is remnants of the dead corpse of the Temple Mount,

which was k*lled brutally by the Islamic Waqfa authorities.

Unfortunately, it is without any context.

This is all mixed up.

It is not in connection with floor levels...

...or with archeological strata, with structures or anything

So you've got modern glass,

and pottery, plastic and everything?

True.

[SIMCHA] Barkay is upset that bulldozers were used...

...to dig fire exits on the Temple Mount.

He wonders if bulldozers destroyed evidence of Solomon's Temple.

Adnan Husseni, head of the Islamic Trust...

...overseeing the Dome of the Rock.

I asked him if he believes the Dome of the Rock...

...stands where the Temple used to be.

[HUSSENI] I have heard many theories about the temple.

In Jerusalem, out of Jerusalem really.

And I, myself, I respect all the feelings,

and all the holy places,

and all the religions of the others.

Because if I don't respect these things...

...it means that I am not respecting Islam.

Islam was built on the recognition...

...of the other messages,

which is Judaism and Christianity.

We don't have any problem with these things.

So, do you believe there was a temple?

I told you that I respect all the feelings of others.

I mean historically, scientifically?

I, myself, I didn't see anything.

I have read many things and I respect all these things.

You respect the religious feelings,

but I'm not talking about religious feelings.

I mean just historically, as a person,

do you think there was a temple?

Well, my answer will not give anything more...

...than what we have read, really.

My point of view-

I have read many things about this really,

many ideas. And finally I am confused now.

But if I'm confused...

...the other side have nothing to do with my confusion.

[SIMCHA] Husseni might hedge bets...

...on whether or not there was a Temple...

...where the Dome now stands.

But the Palestinian position is pretty consistent.

[SIMCHA] So far there is no stone...

...to prove Solomon's Temple existed here.

But Barkay has found evidence...

...of the Babylonian att*ck on Jerusalem and on the Temple.

This is an arrowhead, tiny but very nasty.

It's made of bronze. It has a small shaft...

...for the wooden cane of the arrow that went into it.

This has three very sharp wings...

...and when it penetrates one's body,

if you want to take it out it tears the flesh.

This is a Scytho-Iranian arrowhead...

...which was first introduced by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar,

King of Babylon.

-So this is Babylonian time.

This is Babylonian, .

This is the tragedy of the destruction...

...of the First Temple of Jerusalem.

[SIMCHA] In BC the Babylonian King,

Nebuchadnezzar, knocked God's house to the ground.

The Bible talks about Solomon's temple built by King Solomon,

son of David, years it stands.

The Bible describes how the Babylonians destroyed it,

b*rned it, and this is an actual arrowhead from that time.

-Yes, sh*t by the Babylonian army...

...at some defenders of Jerusalem.

At the temple mount.

Yes. At the temple mount.

That's pretty amazing.

[SIMCHA] As much as Barkay is upset with Palestinian dozers,

he's also frustrated with the Israeli government.

They blocked Barkay's attempts to investigate the dump.

But what about the Israelis?

Did they give you a big slap on the back and say,

"Way to go? Are you willing to do this"?

Look, they-

Don't be diplomatic.

Did they give you a slap on the back, or did they-

Unfortunately, it is involved with politics.

In Jerusalem, whatever you do is politics.

Even if you sneeze in Jerusalem, that's political activity.

Depends which side you sneeze on.

Yes exactly. In any case-

Okay. So the Israelis dumped on you too?

Actually, they don't like it.

Many of the Israeli authorities would prefer...

...the Temple Mount to evaporate, or not to exist.

Because it creates too many political problems.

It creates problems for them...

...and they would prefer nothing done about it.

How long did it take you to get a permit?

It took us long.

-Are we talking a couple of days?

No, not at all. [laughs]

Weeks? -No.

Months? -No.

Years? -Yes.

How many years? -It took me a long time.

[SIMCHA] It took Barkay five years to get the permit...

...that led to discovering the arrowhead...

...from the Babylonian att*ck.

That att*ck was the end of Solomon's Temple.

It was rebuilt.

But it wasn't until the time of Jesus...

...that the Temple was restored to its former glory.

Restored by one of history's greatest villains.

[SIMCHA] August , .

Australian Dennis Rohan tried to burn down...

...the al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Rumors spread that this was part of an Israeli plot...

...to destroy the Mosque.

Angry Muslims took to the streets.

Rohan was a Christian living on an Israeli Kibbutz.

In court, Rohan claimed he was on a mission from God.

He thought burning down the Mosque...

...would clear the space to rebuild the Temple...

...and trigger the apocalypse. The court declared him insane.

Today, the story of the Temple Mount...

...is mostly a battle between Muslim and Jew.

But Christians have a history here too.

Starting with Jesus.

During his lifetime the Temple was restored...

...by one of history's greatest villains. Herod the Great.

Infamous for trying to k*ll the infant Jesus.

But what most people don't know...

...is that Herod the Great Villain is also Herod the Great Builder.

These steps led to Herod's Temple.

They are the very steps Jesus walked upon...

...when he entered the Temple.

Stephen and Claire Pfann...

...from Jerusalem's University of the Holy Land.

Steve says from here...

...we see many of the places Jesus' spoke about.

Example, Jesus compared the Pharisees to whitewashed tombs.

And then he speaks about them...

...as being whitewashed sepulchers.

Where they are on the facing hill there...

...would have been tombs that had whitewash on the front...

...to warn people not to come near to these tombs...

...because of contamination.

So what are you saying?

When he says when he crosses theological swords...

...with the Pharisees, he could have been sitting right here...

...and actually describing his metaphors,

or things that we see from right over here?

-That is very common for Jesus with his teaching.

He uses the life, the images of nature, the houses, society,

and buildings and tombs around him...

...to create his metaphors.

[SIMCHA] Shortly before his crucifixion,

Jesus foresaw the Temple's destruction.

...to show him to show him the buildings ot the temple.

"Fear thee not all these things.

I say unto you, there shall not be left here...

...one stone upon another that shall now be thrown down."

Do these stones back up Jesus' prediction?

You are standing now within a group of small shops,

which were along the street.

Now the merchandise inside these shops went on fire...

...when Jerusalem was put to the torch.

And if you look well you see that the wall,

right behind you Simcha, the wall.

You mean right here?

-The stone is kind of peeling off.

These are remnants of the fire...

...that brought an end to the second temple of Jerusalem.

More than that up on the street,

you have a pile of large stones...

...which were knocked down by the crowbars...

...of the engineering forces of Titus...

...who destroyed the buildings of Herod the Great.

If you look at these stones, I can see with my mental eyes,

I can still hear the, the noise of the stones falling...

...and cracking the slabs of the street.

I think that this pile of stones is much more impressive...

...than the standing walls.

This is much more vivid history for me...

...than the beautiful magnificent structures,

which are still standing in the city of Rome.

I think this pile is more authentic historically...

...than anything else.

Because this pile actually shows the-

The moment.

The moment, the v*olence. The overturning of.

Yes. If you look underneath the stones,

you can find some of the coins and other fines,

which were thrown away by people...

...who in the last moment ran for their lives.

[screaming]

[SIMCHA] The temple was the site...

...of many of the key events in the life of Jesus.

But Dan Bahat says many people overlook this.

Bahat is chief Israeli archaeologist...

...for the Temple Mount.

Since he can't work on Islamic sites,

he's limited to digging around the edges.

So he took me into a tunnel next to the Mount.

You see, a Christian tourist can be...

...the greatest worshipper of Christianity...

...but keeps forgetting that the site is so important...

...for the Christians,

and he admires the Muslim architecture instead.

Like the dome of the rock which was built...

actually against Christianity, decisively against Christianity.

They keep forgetting that this was a site where Jesus,

the founder of Christianity or the father of Christianity,

he was actually walked there, he did some of his acts,

his first mission when he was years old...

...chasing out the money changers,

deliberating under Solomon's politics...

...and all kind of things which are a vivid part.

Christianity forgot about it.

So are you saying that central to Jesus' ministry...

...was the Temple Mount?

Definitely.

[SIMCH] The importance of the Temple to Jesus...

...isn't the only thing that was forgotten.

There was also the secret of the stones.

These stones weigh tonnes...

...and are some of the biggest building blocks in the world.

And they've been keeping their secret...

for over centuries.

[SIMCHA] The Jewish presence on the Mount had come to an end.

The Romans controlled Jerusalem.

The next big day for the Mount came in . A.D.

The armies of Islam marched from victory to victory...

...across the Middle East. They took Jerusalem.

They took the Temple Mount,

or as they called it "al-Haram al-Sharif."

This place matters to the Muslims...

...because they believe that from here,

the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven...

...to receive the command for the number of daily prayers.

The Dome of the Rock was built to honour that event.

Husseni says the Temple Mount...

...was empty when the Muslims arrived.

There was nothing here.

There is an objective site in it,

an existing part of Jerusalem here.

When the visit took place, and after the visit,

the Muslims built these shrines.

So we have nothing to do what was before the Islamic time.

We don't see Muslims when they were here years,

they don't see anything, they don't demolish anything.

They don't put up anything.

There was a place and God asked the prophet Mohammed...

...to make the visit here, and this is gods will,

and we are adopting gods will.

So we don't decide this, god decide this.

[SIMCHA] Whatever was or wasn't on top,

there was certainly something underground.

Something hidden by these stones, at six hundred tonnes,

some of the largest building blocks the world has ever seen.

They're underneath the Temple Mount.

And they're here for a reason.

We are standing and touching now a stone,

the largest building stone ever found in this country.

It weighs metric tonnes, which is enormous.

I believe that it was put here by Herod the Great...

...because inside here there is a vault,

lets say an underground storage place or something of the like.

So one sec. Huge stone is one piece, it's not broken.

You're saying it weighs how many tonnes?

- metric tonnes.

metric tonnes. Now on the other side of this is what?

We don't know.

We, as a matter of fact only last week on Sunday,

we had a few geophysicists who came here...

...to try to measure by eco-sounds and things,

to try to understand what is inside.

I don't have the results yet.

It was done by the University of Calgary,

the University of Omaha Nebraska,

and University of Connecticut.

I'm waiting for the results to know what exactly they found.

But you suspect that it's storage.

I suspect that inside there is a subterranean storage place...

...on the Temple Mount.

So wait a minute, wait a minute.

So if you're telling me that on the other side of this...

...are sub-structures to the holiest place on earth.

Why aren't you blasting through the wall and trying to...

...be an Indiana Jones and find all sorts of treasures?

[SIMCHA] To hear the answer and how it makes...

...the Temple Mount such a dangerous place,