Editor’s Note: The following is the second part of a two-part feature. Read the first part by clicking here.

One of the best things about living in Israel is that delicious, “never a dull moment” feeling when something that couldn’t possibly happen, does. Then comes the fun part: waiting to see what happens next.

The classic example is the Ir David (City of David) archeological excavation initiated by Professor Eilat Mazar. The sophisticated secular world takes the Biblical account of King David as legend, not literal history. Even those scholars who concede King David may have actually existed suggest that he ruled a poor rural village, not the rich kingdom the Bible describes.

To them, Mazar’s quest to locate King David’s palace was just a quaint way to waste resources, not to be confused with a serious archeological endeavor.

The Power of One
Mazar, a gutsy woman, ignored them, relied on her own studies and spent a dozen years battling nay-sayers and bureaucrats before she got her project going. In 2005, she finally secured seed money. The rest is history. Mazar found King David’s Palace—and in doing so, upended the smug scientific community. Now? She’s taking on the Prime Minister himself.

Things are about to get interesting.

The second part of the Mazar story begins on the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a serious fast day when Jews mourn for the destroyed Temple.

“On that day we found a bulla,” Mazar said, referring to a small clay disk that served as a sort of “return address” on a papyrus scroll, identifying the person who sent it. The bulla Mazar found bears the name of Yehuchal Ben Shelemiah, mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah. Yehuchal was an agent sent by King Tzidkiyahu to Jeremiah, asking him to pray for the people during the siege of Jerusalem carried on by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.

When Mazar’s archeologists uncovered that first bulla, she took it home to study it more closely. She and her three sons, aged 14, 13 and 11, used a magnifying glass to pick away at the encrusted dirt with a needle, working to decipher the markings. In an odd twist of fate, Mazar’s late husband, who had also been an archeologist, had written extensively on bullas, so the boys used their father’s research in helping understand the significance of the find.

“For me, finding that bulla was tremendous,” Mazar said. “Yehuchal was no longer just some name in a Biblical account that I might not even have been sure was true. He was a real person. We now have his business card… It is very rare to find such precise evidence for a narrative in the Bible.”

Interesting, too, the Jeremiah connection: Yehuchal eventually turned against Jeremiah, demanding his death because the prophet’s doom-and-gloom warnings seemed too demoralizing. As punishment, Jeremiah was lowered into a pit (Jeremiah 38:6). The history is all there: Mazar’s workers believe that a courtyard cistern also excavated may have served as Jeremiah’s pit.

Recovering the Truth
A great many artifacts have been recovered, but earlier this month, another significant bulla was found, that of Gedaliahu Ben Pashur. In Jeremiah 38:1-4, both Yehuchal and Gedaliahu are mentioned in the context of the loss of the city of Jerusalem.

“This city will surely be delivered into the hand of the army of the king of Babylonia, and he will capture it,” Jeremiah warned, whereupon the two demand Jeremiah’s death.

The timing is exquisite.

Among Israel’s most contentious issues is the potential division of the city of Jerusalem in order to satisfy the demands of the “Palestinians” for another Arab state. The Arabs demand that Jerusalem’s Old City be included in “their” state, based on their assertion that Jerusalem is a Muslim holy city, not a Jewish one. Azzam Al-Hatib, the director of the Muslim Trust (the Waqf), told a Lebanese newspaper that Mazar’s finds are baseless, nothing more than attempts to create a Jewish link to the area. The Western Wall, he insisted, had nothing to do with a Jewish Temple: The wall was simply a hitching post for the mythical horse ridden by Islam’s founder, Muhammad. Historically, of course, Muhammad never once set foot in Jerusalem.

So Mazar’s findings – confirming a Jewish Jerusalem some 600 years before the birth of Muhammad – are an impediment to Muslim claims. Their response? Destroy Jewish artifacts as fast as they possibly can. (See my column of March 14 by clicking here for an account of the Waqf’s activities.)

If it weren’t so serious, this scenario has slapstick qualities. On one side of the hill, Mazar excavates meticulously, inch-by-inch, unearthing the Jewish history of Jerusalem. On the opposite side, Muslim Arabs, using bulldozers, destroy and haul away everything they can.

What ups the ante is that several Israeli politicians – including “let’s-make-a-deal” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – want to facilitate the Arab claim. Presumably, Olmert wants to divide Jerusalem in order to claim his legacy as the man who brought peace to the Middle East. To that end, he long ago decided to ignore completely the Arab destruction of the Temple Mount. The last thing Olmert needs right now is precisely what Mazar is producing: tangible proof of an ancient Jewish claim to Jerusalem.

Recently Mazar and a group of supporters filed a petition with the High Court of Justice to halt the Waqf’s wanton destruction.

“I am an archaeologist, not a politician,” Mazar said. “However, it is clear that the prime minister must not avert his eyes from the destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount. Not even at the cost of tranquility.”

Interesting. King David’s path to greatness began when he went into battle against Goliath armed with a lowly slingshot. Mazar kicked off her battle with the prime minister using nothing more than a well-used trowel.

I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.