The Zionist Association of Elad has announced it started carrying out excavations in Birkat al-Hamra area in Silwan town south of Al-Aqsa Mosque after seizing it on Tuesday morning.
In a press statement the Jerusalemite researcher Radwan Amr said that Jewish settlers claim that they have discovered the pool of Hezekiah that dates back to the eighth century in Birkat al-Hamra.
Amr underlined that the total area of Birkat al-Hamra is 5 dunums adding that the land is of great historical and archaeological importance.
For his part the spokesman of Hamas for Occupied Jerusalem Muhammad Hamadeh condemned Israel for confiscating Birkat al-Hamra labeling it as a new crime that aims at Judaizing Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hamadeh affirmed that the Palestinian people will continue defending Al-Aqsa Mosque against the Israeli Judaization plans stressing that Al-Aqsa will always be a place of worship for Muslims only.
