TEL AVIV, June 9, 2011 (WAFA) – The Planning and Construction Committee of the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem Thursday gave approval to build the Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient historic Muslim cemetery in Mamilla, an area outside Jerusalem’s Old City west of the Jaffa Gate, according to Haaretz newspaper.
Design of Museum of Tolerance, Isreal
The project is being done by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish American group that has built a similar museum in Los Angeles.
Construction of the museum was to begin in 2008 but the Center halted the project due to the then economic crisis.
The Mamilla Cemetery, Maaman Allah in Arabic, is the largest Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem at an estimated area of 200 dunums (1 dunum = 1000 square meters). Hundreds of skeletons were evacuated during the construction work, according to Haaretz.
Categories: Israel, Middle East, Muslim Heritage
Will it also address Zionist racism and intolerance?