The Israeli government has decided to resume work "as soon as possible" on a controversial construction project near the bitterly contested Al-Aqsa mosque esplanade, a government website said on Monday. The project is to restore an access ramp near the mosque compound, a flashpoint site in Jerusalem's Old City revered by Muslims and Jews and the epicenter of the 2000 Palestinian uprising.
The project was halted in February following furious protests by local Muslim leaders, who said the project threatened the foundations of the esplanade, considered Islam's third holiest site. For Jews, the esplanade was built on the site of the Second Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD and is the location of Judaism's holiest site.
The committee has ordered Israel's antiquities authority "to restart these works as soon as possible, in total transparency and in cooperation with all the official bodies concerned," the website said.
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