Rachel's tomb, located south of Jerusalem on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank, is widely considered the third holiest site in Judaism. Considered the burial spot of Biblical "eternal mother" Rachel, it's marked by a building shaped like a cube topped with a dome. The shrine is a popular pilgramage destination for Jews, particularly women unable to give birth, although access is severly restricted.
Because of security tensions, the shrine is surrounded by a fortified compound, and seperated from the rest of Bethlehem by an extension of the West Bank separation barrier. Only bullet-proof buses are allowed direct access. Palestinians refer to the tomb as Bilal ibn Rabah, and claim it has Muslim origins. They consider the placement of the wall as a land grab, and reject Israeli claims that it's a defensive structure intended to keep attackers out.
In 2010, the shrine was controversially added to Israel's list of national heritage sites by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 14:03
The excavations in the City of David, Jerusalem, which uncovered a third-century AD Roman villa just weeks ago, have now found something much older. Israeli archaeologists have found what they believe to be the region's earliest fort: a wall dating back 3,700 years.
Thought to have been built by the Canaanites, its original purpose was to protect the city's water supply and shows that they had considerable engineering skill and were able to construct major buildings – the wall is eight metres high.
The dig director, Ronny Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa, told the BBC: "The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time.”
