January 27, 2007
The Simon Wiesenthal Center may be going too far by trying to build a museum on a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem
Daniela Yanai in the Los Angeles Times:
Last week, Israel's High Court of Justice ordered Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal Center and the municipality of Jerusalem to explain why they should be allowed to construct a new Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery.
On the surface, it's a straightforward enough question. But it's really about more than the fate of one cemetery and whether it should be preserved. What is at stake is the nature of both people's claims, Palestinian and Israeli, to Jerusalem.
The site of the museum is in the heart of downtown Jerusalem, on a parking lot next to the city's Independence Park. Designed by architect Frank Gehry and kicked off in 2004 with a visit by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the museum (a sister, of sorts, to the one of the same name in Los Angeles) seems, at first glance, like a welcome initiative. In a region wracked by intolerance, what better way to improve the chances for peace than to teach people about different cultures?
But the museum itself became a test case for tolerance when bulldozers digging its foundation unearthed human remains last year, and the project has been mired in legal disputes ever since. Even though archeologists and historians knew that the site was on top of an ancient cemetery — parts of which are visible just adjacent to the site — spokespeople for the Jerusalem municipality claimed that the discovery of remains came as a surprise.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 02:27 AM | Permalink
Comments
The headline that 3QD gave to this post only amplifies the strident tone of the LA Times article. I think you were too quick to do that. Never form an opinion on the basis of one newspaper article. Don't expect that we have the entire story here.
I'm not familiar with the nature of the East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem divide . . . but just speculating now as to how this may not be an "intolerance" issue (as the LA Times makes it out to be) -- It is in fact, as a general matter, very hard to construct new structures in historic cities such as Rome or, I would assume, Jerusalem. It seems like no matter where you break ground, something turns up. Eventually a difficult choice has to be made if anything new is ever going to get built. So it's not a matter of pretending that Muslims never had anything to do with that land. If the cemetery were Jewish or Christian, construction would proceed just the same.
Like I say, just speculating. My real point is that we don't know the whole story, so it's inappropriate to echo the accusations.
Posted by: anonymous | Jan 27, 2007 12:14:10 PM
Wiesenthal Center is the enemey of the Israeli and Jewish people world wide. Armchiar American Zionists are responsible for the spiling of Jewish and Arab blod in srael/Palestine. Your Polards must be stopped for the sake of preserving Israeli-Jewish life. Ruv Tododt Veh-Tihyu Bree'em.
Posted by: Daniela Knao | Jan 27, 2007 3:03:10 PM
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