THE DETROIT JEWISH' NEWS

Battle Over City of David Dig Continues

TEL•AVIV (JTA) — The
academic community is
united in rejecting
Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi
Shlomo. Goren's claim that•
the City of David area
where archeological escava-
tions are now going on was
the site of Jewish
cemeteries in the past.
Noted professors of his-
tory, archeology and liberal
arts called a press confer-
ence in Jerusalem on Mon-
lay at which they presented
document signed by 17
demics who had re-
searched this field, stating
categorically that no Jewish
cemeteries ever existed in
that area.
The document was ac-
1 companied by maps and an-
cient texts, including some
of those quoted by Goren to
support the contention on
,-- which he and Sephardic
2 Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
had based their ruling last
week that the archeological
excavations at the City of
David must be halted.
Prof. Arye Ben-
Yehoshua, a noted liberal
arts academician,
stressed that the docu-
ments confirmed that
there has never been a
Jewish cemetery in the
City of David area. He
said there was "no objec-
tive scientific basis" for
the interpretation of the
texts cited by Goren.
Prof. Nachman Avigad,
who has carried out exten-
sive research into Jewish
graves and cemeteries in
and around Jerusalem, said
it was "aboslutely clear"
that no Jewish graves
existed in the area under
dispute. He said there was
proof that the City of David
area had been inhabited in
the Second Temple period,
and it was clear that no dead
were ever buried inside a
city.
Prof. Yehoshua Prawer, a
world expert on the
medieval and Crusader
period, said there was no
basis for Goren's claims on
the basis of the Middle Ages
texts he had quoted. The
professors said they were
ready to give evidence and
present their proofs to any
court if anyone decided to
appeal to the Supreme
Court on the archeologogy
issue.
The archeological team
led by Prof. Yigal Shilo has
continued its work under
heavy police protection. The
scientists areued that the
rabbinical ban is not bind-
ing and that the permit
allowing them to dig, which
was issued by the Ministry
- .:ducation and Culture, is
.11 in effect.
The final decision on
whether the site contains
a cemetery and whether
the excavation license is
valid will be made by the
Education Ministry
headed by Zevulun
Hammer of the National
Religious Party. Work at
the site has been going on
since 1978 without any
controversy or distru-
bances. The controversy
and physical clashes be-
tween Orthodox ex-

tremists
and
ar-
cheologists only erupted
several months ago.
Discussing the con-
troversy in a TV interview,
Hammer said he doubted
whether there were indeed
old Jewish graves at the
site. He said that the ruling
of the two rabbis last week
should not be taken "too
seriously." However, out of
respect to the highest rab-
binical authority, Hammer
said he felt that a com-
promise should be reached
which would be satisfactory
to them as well-as to the ar-
cheologists.
However, Ashkenazic
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren's
initial reaction indicated a
rigid approach to the com-
promise idea. He told re-
porters that he refused to
contemplate a compromise
because "there can be no
about
compromise
Halakha.
"Furthermore, he said,

Prof. Yigael Yadin, dormer
Deputy Premier and a lead-
ing archeologist, still has
not returned the remains of
50 warriors in the Bar
Kochba campaign against
the Romans (132-135 BCE)
which were discovered by
Yadin 25 years ago in caves
near the Dead Sea.

Goren charged that
then Premier David
Ben-Gurion had—prom-
ised him that the remains
of the Bar Kochba war-
riors would be given a
proper Jewi.-th burial and
that a monuioent would
be erected at the site.
"But the skeletons are
still scatterer i in
laboratories around the
world where who knows
what people are doing to
them," Goren said.

Some 5,000 demon-
strators gathered last week
at the Western Wall for a
rally in support of the ar-
cheologists. Mayor Teddy
Kollek, Yadin and veteran
archeologist Prof.
Binyamin Mazar called for
the protection of the free-
dom of research, and repri-
manded the two Chief Rab-
bis for their intervention.

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He stated that as long as
this affair was not settled,
he would have no confidence
in archeologists.

"If we have to buy Arms
from the Israelis, why not
make peace with the Iraqis?
It would be much better,"
Bani-Sadr said.
Former Carter Ad-
ministration officials and
diplomatic sources said
last weekend that the Is-
raelis yielded to Ameri-
can pressure not to con-
tinue their military rela-
tionship with Iran until
the hostages were freed.

25

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U.S. Finds No Evidence'
of Israel-Iran Arms Deal

WASHINGTON (JTA) —
The State Department says
that it has "no evidence" to
support a report that Israel
secretly sold Iran spare
parts and tires for
American-built F-4 fighter
bombers last October to
help Iran in its war against
Iraq and at a time when
American hostages were
being held by Iran.
According to a report last
Thursday night on ABC
News, former Iranian
President Abolhassan
Bani-Sadr said in an inter-
view in Paris with ABC that
he had been opposed to any
deal with Israel but had
been overruled by religious
leaders close to Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini.

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