Americans watch Israel open dig site

Officials’ presence raises ire of some

People walk inside an ancient tunnel during the opening of an ancient road at the City of David, a popular archaeological and tourist site in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem. The site is located on what many believe to be the ruins of the biblical King David's ancient capital and see as centerpieces of ancient Jewish civilization, but critics accuses the operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda at the expense of local Palestinian residents. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, Pool)
People walk inside an ancient tunnel during the opening of an ancient road at the City of David, a popular archaeological and tourist site in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem. The site is located on what many believe to be the ruins of the biblical King David's ancient capital and see as centerpieces of ancient Jewish civilization, but critics accuses the operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda at the expense of local Palestinian residents. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, Pool)

JERUSALEM -- American officials watched on Sunday as Israel opened a newfound Roman-era street at a divisive archaeological site in east Jerusalem, a move that deepened Palestinian animosity toward the White House's mediation efforts.

David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, attended the event and was given a sledgehammer to take the first swing at the ceremonial smashing of a brick wall. Also attending were three other visiting American ambassadors as well as President Donald Trump's Mideast negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The presence of the American officials sparked new accusations that the U.S. is helping Israel "Judaize" East Jerusalem.

Sunday's event aggravated simmering tensions in east Jerusalem. Israeli police clashed overnight Sunday with residents of another Palestinian neighborhood, leaving at least 15 Palestinians and two officers wounded, officials said.

The City of David Foundation, a group of Jewish settlers, on Sunday unveiled what it called "the pilgrimage road," a 2,000-year-old main thoroughfare from Roman-era Jerusalem that it says served visitors to the ancient Jewish Temple.

"Here we have this powerful, irrefutable, undeniable evidence," Friedman said Sunday. "Were there any doubt, and to me there never was, about the accuracy, the wisdom, the propriety of President Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, I certainly think this lays all doubts to rest."

The multiyear project to excavate beneath the mostly Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan cost over $100 million, with donors including Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Adelson and his wife, Miriam, attended the event, as did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, Sara.

The City of David Foundation's excavations, located on the steep slope beneath the contested site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, are part of a popular archaeological and tourist site the group runs in Silwan.

But critics accuse the site's operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda at the expense of local residents. The City of David Foundation never got the permission of the Palestinians living overhead to dig, and advocates say a handful of Palestinian families have had to leave their homes because of damage caused by the excavations.

The new "pilgrimage road" has also drawn criticism from archaeologists. Unlike conventional excavations, the City of David and the Israel Antiquities Authority burrowed horizontally along the ancient road, stripping away later periods as they went to expose remains from the period associated with the golden age of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Earlier Sunday, the clashes in Issawiya, another Palestinian neighborhood, were sparked by the shooting death of a Palestinian man by Israeli police.

Residents say police have stepped up their presence in Issawiya for several weeks and that demonstrators were protesting police violence when Mohammed Obeid, 20, was shot Thursday.

Police say he hurled fireworks at officers. But residents accuse police of using excessive force and shooting Obeid from close range.

Information for this article was contributed by Ilan Ben Zion and Shahar Golan of The Associated Press; and by David M. Halbfinger of The New York Times.

A Section on 07/01/2019

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