Dig at Mugrabi gate
Photo: Yoav Galai
Minster Jacob Edery
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
210,000 entries to site broadcasting Mugrabi Gate dig
Most of those visiting website providing live footage of contoversial east Jerusalem dig from US, number of entries from Islamic countries surprisingly low
The international community’s interest in the archeological dig Israel is conducting at Jerusalem’s Mugrabi gate
is not waning.
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The website providing live footage of the dig has recorded over 210,000 entries over the past three weeks. Most of the site's visitors were in the United States, although a fair amount also came from the Muslim world, headed by Turkey, which was soon to send an envoy to investigate the dig.
Since controversy around the dig erupted and enraged the Muslim world, the number of American visitors to the site reached 66,809, according to a report received at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Israel’s contribution to the number of entries was less than half that, at 31,475, while Turkey had 19,609 visitors to the site as of Monday.
'Government made a wise decision'
The number of entries from other Islamic countries were surprisingly low; 1,804 from Egypt, 56 from Iran, 51 from Syria, and 46 from Qatar. Sudan and Iraq both contributed one entry each.
The large number of entries to the site illustrates international interest in the matter, according to Minster Jacob Edery.
“The government made a wise decision, allowing transparency to the world in general, and the Muslim world in particular, proving there was no harm to Islamic holy sites,” he said.
“I trust that anyone who would come to the Temple Mount to inspect the dig, would see that Israel has indeed followed international guidelines, out of respect to Islamic holy sites,” Edery added.
It is not yet known when the Turkish envoy will arrive to inspect the site. However, according to Edery, the Turks are currently collecting information about the area, mainly from Muslim sources.
