Black bird + white bird discuss Mughrabi bridge

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You might have to enlarge the first shot to see that a white bird is looking at the black bird.

The birds are sitting on a ledge of an empty old 2nd-storey room over the women's prayer room at the Western Wall.

Here is the Western Wall (once called the Wailing Wall).

Behind and above it, the Temple Mount which is under the administration of the Wakf (Muslim Trust).

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The place the birds were sitting is under the top part of the big ramp.

It leads up to the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance onto the Temple Mount for non-Muslims (as explained in a previous post).
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After years of legal battles the Jerusalem Municipality has now given final approval to plans for a replacement bridge.

(It turns out that the old ramp never did have approval. )

See the whole strange story here, in the March 8 Jerusalem Post.

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I'm relieved and happy to read that

"The new bridge is a scaled-down version of the original project, which proposed a massive 95-meter bridge leading from an archeological garden. The original plan prompted an outcry from archeologists worried that such a large structure would not only damage archeological findings, but also detract from the aesthetic nature of the site."

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The new bridge is meant to replace the temporary wooden bridge that has been in use since a 2003 earthquake and winter storm caused part of the original bridge to collapse, leading city engineers to deem it unsafe.

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The authorities have not coordinated this with the Wakf, so I imagine the new ramp will not be finished--or even started--any time soon.

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The sweet birds are for Camera-Critters and the "bridge" is for Sunday Bridges.

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