JERUSALEM (AP) - Deep in the cool recesses of the remains of an ancient Muslim palace, tourists gaze at a computer screen, transforming into pilgrims as they are led to the Jewish Temple destroyed 2,000 years ago.
The computer simulation is part of a new interactive museum that opened Wednesday, just outside the Al Aqsa Mosque that sits on land where Jews believe the remains of their two Temples - one built by King Solomon and the second by King Herod - are buried.
The sacred compound revered by Muslims and Jews is the most sensitive spot in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A dispute over final control over the hilltop helped derail peace talks and triggered fighting that began seven months ago.
Muslim clerics who administer the compound, known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, claim there is no archaeological proof that the Jewish Temples once stood in the place of the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques.
The new Israeli display ``is not a museum of historical events, but a factory of lies,'' said Adnan Husseini, director of the Islamic Trust that administers the site.
Israel, in turn, bitterly complains that Muslims have recklessly discarded important archaeological artifacts, including those tracing the compound's Jewish history, as part of the construction of underground prayer halls.
The opening of the multimillion-dollar museum near the southwestern corner of the Al Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, came at a time of crisis in the tourism industry caused by the unrest that has claimed more than 470 lives.
Israel hopes the show will draw foreigners back to visit.
The computer simulation is housed in what used to be the basement of a palace from which Muslim Caliphs ruled the area in the 7th century.
In the high-tech computer simulation, developed with the University of California at Los Angeles, visitors are guided by computer images under a high gateway, known today as Robinson's Arch, and up a grand staircase to the majestic Second Temple, as it stood before the Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D.
The computer program, like a flight simulator, takes the audience into the wide plaza surrounding the Temple. The royal portico adorns one side of the courtyard with four rows of columns. The square sanctuary, decorated with a gold frieze, rises high above the covered heads of virtual Jewish pilgrims on the other side.
Not every detail was clear when they reconstructed the Temple in the computer model.
Though he led excavations near the Temple Mount, archaeologist Ronny Reich said he had conflicting information, or not enough, and had to use educated guesswork to complete the model, answering questions posed by Lisa Snyder, a computer expert with the UCLA Urban Simulation Team.
``I couldn't leave a white area and say, `I don't know','' said Reich. ``The crowd would go crazy from a very empty picture.''
He based his conclusions on historic sources, such as religious texts, archaeological evidence and his knowledge about the architecture of the period.
Snyder, 39, from Los Angeles, said she spent 1,500 hours developing the computer simulation, taking more than 900 digital photographs of the area around the Temple Mount.
Emerging from the dark chambers, visitors face 21st century reality, including some of the structures pictured in the simulation.
A few hundred yards away is the Western Wall, one of the remaining structures of the Temple compound, situated under the Dome of the Rock Mosque.
For Reich, aware of the political questions his work poses, the project gave him a perspective on life and history.
``There were turbulent days in ancient Jerusalem as well,'' said Reich. ``A lot happened in this city in history, and maybe this (center) will help us learn a lesson about troubles.''
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Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.