Protesten tegen Museum van Tolerantie in Jeruzalem

 

Palestijnen en Israelische Arabieren protesteren al weken tegen de bouw van een Museum van Tolerantie in Jeruzalem. De smoes daarvoor is dat dit museum gedeeltelijk op de plaats van een middeleeuwse islamitische begraafplaats wordt gebouwd, maar de plaats wordt al decennia als parkeerplaats gebruikt zonder dat iemand daartegen protesteerde. Het is, met andere woorden, weer eens de bekende stok om de hond mee te slaan.

 

But in an article to be published in Sunday's Jerusalem Post, Hier notes that the site, which was jointly owned by the Israel Lands Administration and the Jerusalem Municipality, had functioned for almost half a century "as the city's municipal car park (a portion of it included three levels of underground parking), serving the diverse communities of Jerusalem. Everyday, since the 1960s, hundreds of Jews, Christians and Muslims parked their cars there. The city of Jerusalem also laid electrical cables and sewer lines below the ground."

 

During that period, Hier goes on, "no Muslim group, including today's most vociferous critics of the museum... raised a word of protest... They were silent because, as the High Court said, '...the area has not been classified as a cemetery for decades.'"

 

Het protest heeft waarschijnlijk dan ook meer te maken met het thema van het museum dan met de begraafplaats.

 

RP

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The Jerusalem Post
Nov 6, 2008 19:26 | Updated Nov 7, 2008 7:21

 

Wiesenthal dean rejects museum protests as extremist agitation
By YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JERUSALEM POST STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910055540&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Hundreds of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians held a demonstration at the Mamilla Muslim cemetery in central Jerusalem on Thursday to protest a High Court decision to allow the construction of the Museum of Tolerance on a site that partially covers the medieval cemetery.

But Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center which is building the museum, has rejected the Islamic condemnations as the voice of extremism and vowed that it will rise as "an institution that offers hope and reason."

On October 29, after a prolonged legal battle, the High Court rejected a petition by the Al-Aqsa Company for Development of Holy Muslim Assets against the museum's construction. The High Court ruled that the $250 million museum safeguarded religious sensitivities and respected the historical burial site.

Muslim opponents say the museum's location violates the cemetery's sanctity. According to Muslim tradition, a number of companions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, are buried at Mamilla.

But in an article to be published in Sunday's Jerusalem Post, Hier notes that the site, which was jointly owned by the Israel Lands Administration and the Jerusalem Municipality, had functioned for almost half a century "as the city's municipal car park (a portion of it included three levels of underground parking), serving the diverse communities of Jerusalem. Everyday, since the 1960s, hundreds of Jews, Christians and Muslims parked their cars there. The city of Jerusalem also laid electrical cables and sewer lines below the ground."

During that period, Hier goes on, "no Muslim group, including today's most vociferous critics of the museum... raised a word of protest... They were silent because, as the High Court said, '...the area has not been classified as a cemetery for decades.'"

Hier adds that the Wiesenthal Center "offered numerous compromises" during the court process, "but they were all rejected out-of-hand by Sheikh [Raed] Salah" of the Islamic Movement. Now, he writes, Salah "is agitating against its decision because he lost..."

"From this half-century former parking lot in the center of west Jerusalem will rise an institution that offers hope and reason to all the people of Israel and the world," Hier writes.

In a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles, Hier said: "The opposition to the move is not motivated by religious concerns but is a political attempt at a land grab by Islamic fundamentalists, who are in cooperation with Hamas, in the center of west Jerusalem."

During Thursday's protest, Sheikh Kamal Hativ, Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch, said: "We came to announce to the entire world in the name of all Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, those within the Green Line and in the Diaspora - we will not reconcile with you and will not forgive you for violating the graves of our mothers, fathers, and grandparents. We will not forgive you for building the tolerance structure,"

"The cemetery has in any case been in existence before Israel, and the graves of our forefathers will remain after Israel," Hativ added.

Jerusalem Police said the protest passed without incident.

 

Etgar Lefkovits contributed to this report