Bones of Contention in Jerusalem

By Patricia Blake

A dispute over a dig poses a threat to Begin's coalition

Shouting imprecations and hurling bottles and stones, 200 ultra-Orthodox Jews laid siege to Jerusalem's major archaeological site last week, where the citadel of King David is believed to lie. As hapless archaeologists took cover, mounted police routed the bearded, black-robed zealots.

Later in the day, in Jerusalem's Shabbes Square, 10,000 religious militants staged a three-hour demonstration, protesting what they termed the desecration of graves at the government-approved dig. Leading the protest were members of Netorei Karta (Guardians of the City), a fundamentalist sect that refuses to accept the legitimacy of the Israeli state, and representatives of Agudat Israel (Union of Israel), an ultra-Orthodox religious party that joined Prime Minister Menachem Begin's new government a month ago.

With that, the dispute was instantly transformed into a red-hot political issue--potentially the first threat to the coalition that Begin stitched together last month out of his conservative Likud bloc and three small religious parties. Since one of them is Agudat Israel, its support is crucial if the Begin coalition is to maintain its razor-thin, one-vote majority in the 120-member Knesset.

Repeated denials by archaeologists and other scholars that any graves exist on the controversial site met with incredulity among the ultraOrthodox. Israel's Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Goren, who had earlier issued a ruling forbidding the dig, made a dramatic appearance on national television, displaying a few teeth and photos of human bones, which he said he had gathered while secretly scouting the area. Said Goren: "I found the bones with my own hands. I dirtied two suits. I have a whole sack of bones I could have brought with me." The mounting opposition to the excavations caused Begin to quip at one point that "you'd think Jews have enough problems without digging underground for more."

But there was little cause for jest. The religious parties quickly showed their clout when vacationing Knesset members were summoned for a special session to discuss the legal issues raised by the disputed project. Members of Agudat Israel and some Deputies from the more moderate National Religious Party have argued that the archaeologists, who have a government license to excavate for relics of King David's 11th century B.C. biblical city, are actually disturbing the graves of a 700-year-old cemetery, thus violating religious law.*

"What shall be the deciding factor, religious law or secular law?" asked the Labor Party's Yaakov Tzur in the Knesset, raising the larger question before the Begin government. Education and Culture Minister Zevulun Hammer, an NRP leader who is not opposed to the Old City excavation, equivocated in his reply, reflecting the government's dilemma. "We must follow the law of the state," he said, "keeping in mind the respect we must have for the halacha [religious law]."

Israel's academic and scientific community stands united against religious interference with the dig. Addressing a protest meeting, Archaeologist Benjamin Mazar warned that if the ultra-Orthodox have their way, "all archaeology in the Holy Land will have to stop." When Hammer suggested a compromise under which the site would be declared a cemetery, with a religious supervisor to guard the sanctity of the graves while excavations continued, the academics turned it down.

Seventeen prominent historians signed a manifesto saying that the attempt to characterize the site as a Jewish cemetery "is without any scientific, objective foundation and is an effort to mislead the public." Goren countered by calling the historians liars. Said the Chief Rabbi: "I accuse them of knowing the truth and intentionally misleading the public. They don't care about bones."

In the end, Begin will probably have to adjudicate the "War of the Bones," as the Jerusalem Post calls the controversy. If, as is expected, he goes along with majority opinion in the Knesset favoring the dig, he could face a no-confidence vote from at least six religious members. Whatever the outcome, there are some humorous suggestions that Begin might have to move from his official residence: archaeologists have just revealed that the Prime Minister's house was constructed on top of a 2,000-year-old tomb. That, too, violates religious law.

--By Patricia Blake. Reported by Marlin Levin and Robert Rosenberg/Jerusalem

The biblical source for the ban on digging up cemeteries is I Samuel 28:15. When the witch of Endor raises the prophet Samuel from the dead at King Saul's request, Samuel angrily asks Saul: "Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?"

With reporting by Marlin Levin, Robert Rosenberg/Jerusalem

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