Many people who visit the Temple mount regularly are familiar with these timbers, but may not know exactly what they are or to what period they belong. I assume that most people who don't visit the Temple mount are unaware altogether of the existence of these timbers and attention needs to be brought to the issue for several reasons.

Near the northeastern corner of the raised platform on the Temple Mount, there is a large pile of heavy wooden timbers. These timbers were removed from the Al-Aksa mosque during renovations and have been moved to various locations around the mount over the past few years.

Several of these timbers were acquired, as I understand it, from an Arab junk dealer under the pretense that they would be used for firewood. Once obtained, the timbers were immediately sent to Tel Aviv University's Department of Geography, Botanical Laboratories and Institute of Archaeology for analysis.

The botanical test results showed that the timbers were cedar and cypress originating in Lebanon. The 14c radio-carbon dating showed the timbers to be from the 10th century BCE (The time of King Solomon).

So what do we have here?

1. We have a Bible telling us that King Solomon had cedar brought from Lebanon to Jerusalem for construction of the Holy Temple (II Chronicles 2:3) "Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre: "Send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in."

2. We have cedar timbers on the Temple mount scientifically proven to have been brought from Lebanon in Solomon's time.

Folks, these are 3000 year old wooden beams that verify a biblical account. Very few items from this period have survived to our day and none so impressive as these massive timbers. I examined them a few weeks ago with Professor Gabriel Barkay of Bar Ilan University. He noted that other trash wood was being mingled in with the ancient beams including, to our surprise, some pieces of wooden coffins.

It would appear that these ancient witnesses to the Biblical account of history, which have survived the Babylonians, the Romans and countless destructive wars, may not survive the hatred of Islam and the negligence of the Israeli government.

If you are a Jew, you should be outraged. Your history and heritage which should be preserved for generations to come is about to be destroyed forever.

If you are a Christian, you should be just as outraged. Even if the Temple and the Temple mount aren't your number one issues, it should outrage you that a piece of Biblical history, a 3000 year old physical proof of a Biblical account that could turn the heart of skeptics, is about to be lost to us forever.

I urge you to bring this issue to the leaders your respective communities and help us save Biblical history.

Yoel Keren