VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #0936/01 0651537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061537Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0732
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC PRIORITY

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 000936 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA, NEA/PD, 
NEA/PI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KWBG KPAL KPAO IS
SUBJECT: PLANNED MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE STIRS CONTROVERSY 
 
This cable was cleared by Embassy Tel Aviv. 
 
¶1.    (SBU) Summary.  The Israeli Supreme Court issued an 
injunction February 22 halting construction of the Museum of 
Tolerance in Jerusalem, funded by the U.S.-based Simon 
Wiesenthal Center, and appointed former Chief Justice Meir 
Shamgar to lead a 30-day mediation period.  The first 
arbitration session is scheduled for March 7 and, according 
to Israeli press reports, the Wiesenthal Center is 
considering a plan to relocate the graves to a nearby Muslim 
cemetery.  Lawyers representing Muslim and Human Rights 
organizations had petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court 
February 15 protesting the planned location over a historic 
Muslim cemetery.  Construction efforts have already unearthed 
more than 250 graves, some reportedly dating back to the 
seventh century.  While all construction activities have been 
halted, the injunction allows the Israeli Antiquities 
Authority to continue "emergency preservation excavations." 
The Court will review the case after 30 days.  End Summary. 
 
Israel Supreme Court 
Orders Injunction 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.    (SBU) After hearing the case on February 15, the 
Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction February 22 
halting construction on the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, 
a controversial project funded by the U.S.-based Simon 
Wiesenthal Center (SWC).  The injunction prohibits the 
continuation of "any activities that would change the 
existing situation," but does not prohibit the Israeli 
Antiquities Authority from continuing "essential activities 
in its emergency preservation excavations."  The Court 
appointed former Chief Justice Meir Shamgar to lead mediation 
efforts and will review the case after a 30-day mediation 
period.  According to Israeli press reports, the first 
mediation session is scheduled for March 7. 
 
¶3.    (SBU) The project, when complete, will consist of a 
three-acre complex containing two museums, a library and 
education center, an international conference center, and a 
500-seat performing arts theater.  According to planners, the 
museum will "highlight the theme of human dignity" and 
express the "vital need for greater tolerance in Israel and 
the world."  The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international 
Jewish human rights organization dedicated to preserving the 
memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and 
understanding, has raised between USD 200-250 million for 
this project, including a congressional earmark for up to USD 
five million. 
 
Background on Controversy 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.    (SBU) The Israeli Supreme Court was petitioned by the 
al-Aqsa Foundation and the Karameh Human Rights Organization, 
Jerusalem-based NGOs which, according to media reports, claim 
the project displays a disrespect at odds with the planned 
museum's mission to promote coexistence of ethnic groups and 
religions.  The head of the Muslim Waqf, a religious trust, 
told Reuters February 23 that "putting off the project is not 
enough.  The whole project should be canceled." 
 
¶5.    (SBU) The subject of controversy is the museum's 
planned location, adjacent to Independence Park and across 
the street from the Consulate General.  Though the historic 
presence of a Muslim cemetery on this land is undisputed, 
according to an SWC statement, the land was granted to the 
SWC by the GOI and the City of Jerusalem, and had been 
legally designated as "public open space."  Moreover, the SWC 
maintains that it undertook an extensive five-year "public 
planning process" in which announcements were placed in both 
Hebrew- and Arabic-language newspapers, and public hearings 
were held by the Jerusalem City Council.  The SWC asserts 
that no person or organization objected during this period. 
 
¶6.    (SBU) The site, at one time the largest Muslim cemetery 
in Jerusalem, reportedly houses the graves of some of the 
most important Palestinian families, such as the Husseini, 
Nusseibeh, Dajani, and Abu-Saud families.  Certain graves are 
reported to date back to the seventh century, and the area, 
now known as Mamilla, was referred to by historian Mujir 
Al-Din in 1495 as "the lower heaven."  (Note: The Mamilla 
cemetery is bordered by a smaller, functioning cemetery known 
as "Old Mamilla."  End note.)  The plaintiffs claim the site 
was owned by the Muslim Waqf and confiscated by Israel in 
¶1948.  They also assert that associates of the prophet 
Mohammed, as well as thousands of Muslims killed during the 
crusades, are buried there. 
 
¶7.    (SBU) While some media accounts claim the cemetery was 
in use up until 1948, the SWC asserts that various British 
Mandate-era Muftis and the "High Muslim Council" declared the 
cemetery abandoned as early as 1929 and cite a 1964 ruling by 
the Muslim Court of Appeals declaring the sanctity of the 
cemetery had ceased to exist.  They point to another 1964 
citation, reportedly issued by the Muslim Waqf in Jerusalem, 
the stated that the cemetery was so old it was no longer 
sacred.  Muslim religious authorities argue that the document 
was issued by corrupt clergy and "Waqf trustees" and only 
after the land had already been desecrated. 
 
¶8.    (SBU) Construction supervisor Icho Gor of Moriah 
Development Company told ConGenoff the site has been 
disturbed many times in the past for the construction of 
parks, roads and sewers as well as the parking lot currently 
being excavated.  These developments, according to media 
reports, generated controversy and conflict as early as the 
1930s.  According to former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meron 
Benvenisti, Muslim Waqf authorities also protested the 
desecration of graves on the site during the 70s and 80s.  In 
its official statement, the SWC debates these claims and 
asserts that the site has consisted of two parking lots for 
the past thirty years -- one underground and one open and 
paved bordering the Old Mamilla cemetery.  According to SWC, 
hundreds of cars parked in these lots every day and there 
were never any objections.  Current protests stem from a 
February 7 article in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz detailing 
the unearthing of skeletal remains in the early stages of 
construction.  According to media reports, excavation efforts 
have already unearthed more than 250 graves. 
 
¶9.    (SBU) Some Members of the Israeli Knesset have 
protested the planned project.  According to a February 16 
article in the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post, MK Reuven Rivlin 
asked, "Why, for God's sake, does a house of tolerance need 
to be built on a Muslim cemetery?"  The museum, according to 
its mission statement, hopes to "promote civility and respect 
among Jews, and between people of all faiths and creeds." 
The SWC issued a statement February 21 addressing the 
controversy, and laying out the three options it had 
presented the Court that would allow the construction of the 
museum to continue, including the re-interment of the ancient 
bones to a Muslim cemetery, the erection of a monument to 
those whose remains had been removed, and the cleaning up and 
restoring of the adjacent Old Mamilla cemetery at SWC expense. 
 
Media Reports Question Project 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10.   (U) As interested parties await the outcome of the 
mediation efforts, media commentary is, for the most part, in 
agreement that the continuation of the project is a bad idea. 
 Regardless of the court decision urging mediation between 
the parties, both international and local media acknowledge 
that the furor already generated (and likely to continue) by 
constructing a "museum of tolerance" on top of a disputed 
Muslim cemetery is contradictory to the overall goals of the 
project. 
 
WALLES