Press release issued by Stephan Miller, Advisor to Mayor Nir Barkat, 8th December 2011:
The Jerusalem City Engineer, Shlomo Eshkol, has issued an immediate order for the closure of the temporary Mugrabi Ramp and declared that it will be closed for use because the structure is a threat to public safety and highly flammable.
In his letter to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the City Engineer writes: "By virtue of my authority according to section 6a of the Law of Assistance and according to the opinion and after checks made upon the structure, I hereby determine that there exists immediate danger to the users, to the public, and to the property nearby, due to the flammability and potential of collapsing. Therefore I intend to issue an order to close the structure and not allow any use of it."
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has 7 days to petition their concerns to the order of the City Engineer. The order comes after the City Engineer declared the temporary Mugrabi Ramp a threat to public safety over a month ago, based on the opinion issued by the Jerusalem Chief of Fire and Rescue Services and the City Dangerous Buildings Engineer that declared the temporary Mugrabi Ramp highly flammable and a dangerous structure being built out of flammable material and not according to the building standards, as well as due to its unstable physical state. The temporary Mugrabi Ramp can become a fire trap and can collapse onto the women's section of the Western Wall Plaza. Under the current condition, the temporary ramp is a danger to its users and the public who pray nearby.
Over a month ago, the City Engineer demanded that the temporary Mugrabi Ramp be dismantled within 30 days and be rebuilt in a non-flammable way following the standards that obligate them and according to the instructions of a certified engineer by the law, in order to ensure public safety. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation requested an extension of one week, but to no avail. The current, dangerous situation of the temporary Mugrabi Ramp has been of great concern to the Municipality of Jerusalem for some time. Everyday, hundreds of visitors and tourists as well as security personnel use the ramp. The unstable condition of the ramp and its danger of flammability can exact a high price upon human life. The ramp could collapse upon the Western Wall Plaza, injuring the women who pray next to it and possibly causing serious damage to the Western Wall or Temple Mount.
The Municipality of Jerusalem worked together with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and the Israel Antiquities Authority and gave in 2011 a building permit to construct the permanent, sound and safe Mugrabi Ramp that will be in the exact same place as the old Mugrabi Ramp once stood before it collapsed in the winter of 2004.
Because of the fact that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation did not work to build the permanent Mugrabi Ramp according to the building permit that was issued and also did not dismantle the temporary, unstable, and dangerous Mugrabi Ramp, the City Engineer determined that the ramp is a threat to the public and its usage will no longer be allowed.
The City Engineer has emphasized in his statement that the closure is absolute except for a reduced amount of security forces that will be permitted to make use of the unstable bridge in urgent cases. "In noticing the security considerations as stated, the Jerusalem District Chief of the Israeli Police will be able to allow the security force, in urgent and immediate cases of substantial security needs, to make a limited use of the structure, if he believes security needs warrant the limited usage for the security forces only. The Chief of Police will use his authority as mentioned, paying close attention to the security dangers expected from the structure and after he has consulted with the City Engineer."
Background:
The temporary Mugrabi Ramp that exists today, is a temporary structure, that was built according to a temporary building permit. This building permit was issued after the old permanent structure collapsed in the winter of 2004. The temporary structure was built in order to first and foremost temporarily provide accessibility to the Temple Mount for the Israeli Police. The temporary ramp was not meant to provide a permanent solution, it is not suitable for its needs, and it constitutes a danger to its unstable physical state and flammability. There is need to take action to stop its usage and to dismantle it as the City Engineer has instructed.
Following the request of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation from May 2011, the Municipality of Jerusalem issued a building permit for building a new, permanent ramp in its original position that was used for decades as a ramp to the Temple Mount. This is following the approval and issuance of a permit by the District Planning and Construction Committee of the Ministry of Interior of the plans to build the ramp.
The Municipality of Jerusalem is extremely concerned by the possible scenario of the ramp setting on fire, collapsing onto the women's section of the Western Wall Plaza, and the fire spreading to the Western Wall and Temple Mount. This is an immediate and tangible danger to human life of visitors and residents of the city of Jerusalem as well as to some of the most sacred places in the world to religion.
The original Hebrew letter of the City Engineer is available upon request.
+++
