Islamic scholars say Israel violating Aqsa mosque

RIYADH, Feb 3 (Reuters) A Saudi-based body of Islamic scholars today condemned Israeli archaeological work near the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, saying it was a ''blatant violation'' of the shrine's sanctity.

''The most serious element is plans to excavate under the walls of the Aqsa Mosque and its underground tunnels,'' the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy said in a statement carried on Saudi state news agency SPA.

''The Academy expresses its sorrow about blatant violations of the sanctity of the mosque, whose existence is threatened,'' said the Jeddah-based Academy, which groups prominent Sunni and Shi'ite clerics from around the world.

The Aqsa Mosque and another mosque called the Dome of the Rock sit above the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, on land referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as the al-Haram al-Sherif.

The Aqsa Mosque is Islam's third holiest shrine and has been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the past.

Control of the area has been a stumbling block in attempts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The site is in the old city of East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and subsequently annexed after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Reuters PDM VV2032