Some Palestinian scholars have argued that they, not modern Jews, are the genuine descendants of the Israelites and Philistines ancient inhabitants of the land. Some have been, in essence, offering the world a reading erasing ancient Israel from the region's history. Renovations on the Temple Mount conducted by the Islamic Religious Authority, especially in the area adjoining and underlying the El-Aqsa Mosque, have sacrificed the integrity of underlying structures by dumping debris and other materials. This has contributed to the bulge in the southern wall of the Temple.