In an article published in the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly in 2007, Palestinian journalist Khaled Amayreh listed Israeli encroachments on the Al-Aqsa Mosque: In 1977, digging continued and a large ancient tunnel was opened below the women's prayer area. A further tunnel was unearthed under the mosque, going from east to west, in 1979. In addition, in March 1984 the Archaeological Department of the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs dug a tunnel near the western portion of the mosque, endangering the Islamic "Majlis" or council building.Dan Izenberg, The Jerusalem Post, July 19, 1991 Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, however, asserts that "Palestinian accusations ... that tunnels are being dug under the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to undermine its foundations, are false. The closest excavation to the mosque is some 70 meters to its south". In 1981, Yehuda Meir Getz, rabbi of the Western Wall, had workmen clear the debris from the gateway of the ancient Warren's Gate. There were allegations the intention of this excavation was to access the innards of the Temple Mount itself from the Western Wall Tunnel. Arabs on the Mount heard banging from one of the more than two dozen cisterns on the Mount. Israeli Government officials, upon being notified of the unauthorized breach, immediately ordered Warren's Gate sealed. The 2,000-year-old stone gate was filled with cement, and remains cemented shut today.Abraham Rabinovich, Tunnel vision.
