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Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem

New designs revealed for Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem
September 21, 2010

“This museum is more than a building, it is an eternal message of understanding, togetherness, and unity.”
- Shimon Peres, President of Israel

Following a unanimous decision taken by its Board of Trustees at its November 5, 2009 meeting, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has announced that it is redesigning its Museum of Tolerance project in Jerusalem to better reflect today’s world economic realities and will shortly name the new architect for the redesign.

After a nearly three year delay due to court proceedings in Israel and, given the severity of last year’s financial crisis, the Center has made the decision to design a more modest project that can be fast-tracked and completed within a three to four year time frame.

"This is the right decision for us," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Center’s Founder and Dean. "The kind of project we imagined in 2004 is not achievable in today’s climate. The good news, however, is that the project is moving forward and is much better positioned with a more realistic objective. We are especially proud that three renowned Israeli architects will be presenting conceptual designs in June, 2010. We have a fantastic site in the heart of Jerusalem, our redesign concept has the enthusiastic backing of Jerusalem’s Mayor, and we can now refocus all of our energies on bringing to Jerusalem and the people of Israel, a project of crucial significance to its future."

Background Materials and Approbations:

Click above for more information, approbations and photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Nir Barkat, Alan Dershowitz, Irwin Cotler, Malcolm Hoenlein, Ehud Yaari, and Eitan Haber.

Quote from the Unanimous Israeli Supreme Court Ruling in Favor of the Project Moving Forward

"For almost 50 years the compound has not been apart of the cemetery, both in the normative sense and in the practical sense, and it was used for various public purposes." It also noted: "During all those years no one raised any claim, on even one occasion, that the planning procedures violated the sanctity of the site, or that they were contrary to the law as a result of the historical and religious uniqueness of the site ... . For decades this area was not regarded as a cemetery by the general public or by the Muslim community ... . No one denied this position."

Important Facts:

•The site that was given to the Wiesenthal Center by the government of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality previously served as the City's municipal parking lot for more than 40 years.

•During that time, Muslim groups never protested that the parking lot was once part of an ancient burial site.

•In 1964, the highest Muslim religious authorities declared that entire area, including adjacent Independence Park, a 'mundras' - an abandoned, ancient cemetery where public facilities may be built.

•The Simon Wiesenthal Center initiated a town plan to build a museum on the parcel allocated to it by the Government of Israel and the Municipality of Jerusalem and the City of Jerusalem issued a building permit to construct a museum. For five years during the public planning process, the Center for Human Dignity was the subject of hearings at open City Council meetings, through notices published in both Hebrew and Arabic newspapers, and the architectural model was on public display at City Hall. At no time throughout that entire public process, did a single person or organization come forward to object to the use of the grounds on the premise that the site was a Muslim cemetery.

•Of crucial importance is the fact that Muslims themselves, both in the Palestinian territories and throughout the Arab world, have built roads, commercial centers and public buildings on their own cemeteries. It is preposterous to hold the Center for Human Dignity to a higher standard than the Muslims adhere to themselves.

•All of Jerusalem is layered in memory and history and it is not unusual for construction work in Jerusalem, a 3,000-year-old city, to encounter archeological artifacts and bones. That is why there is a special department called the Israel Antiquities Authority, charged with the special handling of any archaeological artifacts or remains that are found. Since the commencement of excavation, the project has been under their supervision, and every instruction has been followed. Most important, the Antiquities Authority, which is an independent body, supported the technical solutions that the Simon Wiesenthal Center filed with the Supreme Court.

•Given Jerusalem’s history, it is safe to assume that many prestigious academic and civic institutions may, in fact, be built on ancient remains. Human dignity demands that we respect and treat with reverence these remains of ancient civilizations without impeding the right of Jerusalem, or any other city, of building a future. If cities were not allowed to be built on the relics of previous civilizations, there would be no modern-day Rome, Jerusalem, or Cairo.

Photos:

	From 1923 to 1931, the Supreme Moslem Council developed a plan to establish a pan-Islamic University in the area that would have included all of would become Independence Park and our current site. The planned campus would have included many large buildings that would have required extensive excavation. The project was never realized because of lack of funds. It is worth noting that in 1929, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el Husseini, initiated the building of the Palace Hotel in another part of the same cemetery and re-interred dozens of remains found there. The Mufti invoked the concept of mundras‚ in which a cemetery is considered to be abandoned and loses its sanctity. This concept is widely sanctioned and practiced throughout the Arab world, in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories.
click on photos for hi-resolution
	The Museum is not being built on the nearby Mamilla cemetery, but on an adjacent site which, for nearly a half-century, served as Jerusalem's municipal car park where every day hundreds of Jews, Christians, and Muslims parked their cars. Electric, cable and sewer lines were laid below the ground.

Editorials and Op-Ed Pieces:

August 15, 2010
Fake graves cleared from J'lem cemetery
By ABE SELIG

February 12, 2010
A Proper Site for a Museum of Tolerance
By Marvin Hier

February 17, 2010
Muslims planned Mamilla project in '45
By Abe Selig

February 19, 2010
Hypocrisy and lies fuel enemies of a Jerusalem museum
By Rabbi Marvin Hier

February 18, 2010
Requiem for a parking lot
By Gideon Kanner

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TEXT OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

CEMETERY INTO BUSINESS CENTRE

An area of over 450 dunams in the heart of Jerusalem, now forming the Mamillah Cemetery, is to be converted into a business centre. The townplan is being completed under the supervision of the Supreme Moslem Council in conjunction with the Government Town Planning Adviser. A six-storeyed building to house the Supreme Moslem Council and other offices, a four-storeyed hotel, a bank and other buildings suitable for a college, a club and a factory are to be the main structures. There will also be a park to be called the Salah ed Din Park, after the Moslem warrior of Crusader times.

The remains buried in the Cemetery are being transfer red to a spot round the tomb of al Sayid al Kurashi, ancestor of the Dajani family, in a 40 dunams walled reserve.

In an interview with “Al Wihda,” the Jerusalem weekly, a member of the Supreme Moslem Council stated that the use of Moslem cemeteries in the public interest had many precedents both in Palestine and elsewhere. He quoted the cases of the Bab al Sahira (Herod’s Gate) Cemetery, which formerly stretched down Saint Stephen‘s Gate; the Jaffa Cemetery, which was converted into a commercial centre and Queen Farida Square in Cairo, which not long ago was a cemetery.

The member added that the Supreme Moslem Council intended to publish a statement containing dispensations by Egyptian, Hejazi and Damascene clerics sanctioning the building programme. He pointed out that the work would be carried out in stages and by public tender. Several companies had already been formed in anticipation, and funds were plentiful, the correspondent concluded.