Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem

Transcription

In name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter
2180 W. Crescent Ave, Suite F, Anaheim, Ca 92801
Tel: 714.776.1847 Fax: 714.776.8340 [email protected]
MuseumofTolerance,Jerusalem
MuseumofTolerance,Jerusalem QuestionsandAnswers
QuestionsandAnswers
What is the Simon Wiesenthal Center?
•
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) purports to be an international Jewish human rights
organization dedicated to repairing the world by confronting anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism,
promoting human rights and dignity, standing with Israel, defending the safety of Jews
worldwide, and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations. 1
•
The SWC’s Museum of Tolerance (MOT), the educational arm founded in 1993, seeks to
challenge visitors to confront bigotry and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic
and contemporary contexts. 2
•
Larry Mizel, Chairman of the Wiesenthal Center, raised a million dollars for Republican and
conservative causes; including contributing to campaigns like Tom Tancredo (CO-R)3, the
Congressional representative who suggested the bombing of Muslim holy sites of Mecca and
Medina4.
•
Nelson Peltz, Co-Chairman of the Wiesenthal Center, was among was among 53 entities that
contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George Bush in
2005.
•
Ed Snider, Co-Chairman of the Wiesenthal Center, is one of the founders of the far right-wing
Ayn Rand Institute. He has donated tens of thousands of dollars in recent years to Republican
1
Simon Wiesenthal Center mission statement, http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=242501
2
USA Today, Financing the Inauguration, http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-16-inaugural-donors_x.htm
3
Watzman, Nancy, “A Brief Mizel History” , July 17, 2006;
http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=12A4C9CCC6317B3680908A41AACEBFDE?diaryId=87
4
Associated Press, “Tancredo: If They Nuke Us, Bomb Mecca” Monday, July 18, 2005;
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162795,00.html
LastRevised:11/25/08
Page1of12
candidates, and millions to support the Bush Administration's policies, including the war in Iraq
and the drumbeat to war with Iran5.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Director of the Wiesenthal Center.6
•
What is the Center for Human Dignity, Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem?
The Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem is one of the largest educational and cultural projects ever
•
undertaken. Its stated purpose is to focus on
Artist Impression of Center for Human Dignity
(Image: Wiesenthal Center, www.bbc.co.uk)
issues of human dignity, tolerance and social
responsibility and to promote unity and respect
among Jews and between people of all faiths.7
The project is estimated at $250 million8 and
•
would include a museum, a library and a
theater, and conference and education centers.9
•
Behind the project is the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center.10
•
The Museum is to be located off Rehov Hillel in West Jerusalem.11 Area is a central part of
downtown Jerusalem and is close to restaurants, bars, offices and shops.12
5
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/This_Saturday_turn_your_back_on_the_pucker.html
6
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Wiesenthal.html
7
http://www.motj.com/About_The_MoTJ.html
8
Davies, Wyre. “Row over Jerusalem Muslim Cemetery.” BBC News.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7715921.stm
9
Associated Press. “Wiesenthal Center gests green light to build museum on ancient Muslim cemetery.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1032596.html Oct. 30, 2008
10
Mizroch, Amir. “ADL: Stop building over Muslim graves” Jerusalem Post. Feb 20, 2006.
11
Mizroch, Amir.
12
Steinberg, Jessica. “Bones of Contention.” The Jerusalem Report. Oct. 30, 2006.
Page2of12
•
Jerusalem officials as well as Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center,
claim that the museum would benefit the city by anchoring the commercial area and attracting
additional businesses and firms.13
•
The cemetery land was gifted to the Wiesenthal Center by the Israel Lands Administration and
the Jerusalem municipality in 2000.14
•
Museum project kicked off with 2004 groundbreaking ceremony attended by CA Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jerusalem.15
Why is there controversy around the Museum of Tolerance?
•
In September 2001, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) had displayed pictures of Palestinians
allegedly celebrating the tragic attacks of September 11th, 2001. In a letter addressed to the SWC,
CAIR-LA urged the “institution to avoid contributing to an atmosphere of intolerance and
Islamophobia.” After intense community pressure those images were removed.16
•
In January 25, 2005 the SWC worked with the anti-Muslim “Jerusalem Connection” group, whose
President Dr. James M. Hutchens was quoted saying moderate Muslims “don’t take the Quran
seriously…because the Quran calls for the destruction of the infidel.” Several prominent Jewish
groups and individuals then refused to support the event or associate with Jerusalem Connection,
including the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Peace Now, the Progressive Jewish
Alliance (PJA), and Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland hills.17
13
Steinberg, Jessica.
14
Steinberg, Jessica.
15
Associated Press. “Jerusalem’s ‘Museum of Tolerance’ digs up controversy and intolerance.” Israel Insider. Sept 22,
2006.
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:JKQ5oxY7jbgJ:web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Culture/9495.htm+arnold+schwarzen
egger+Jerusalem+museum&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
16
Press release, “Wiesenthal center promotes intolerance and hate: American Muslims demand an end to incitement,”
CAIR-LA. Sept. 18, 2001.
17
Action Alert, “Urge Wiesenthal Center, ADL, and the AJCongress to reject anti-Muslim group.” CAIR-LA. Jan. 28,
2005.
Page3of12
•
In Dec. 2005, Israel’s Antiquities Authorities ordered construction to be stopped at the Museum of
Tolerance Jerusalem site when Muslim graves were “discovered,”18 though 150 skeletons were
dug up during this early excavation.19 Archeologists and historians and many others knew that
the site was on top of an ancient cemetery, although spokespeople for the Jerusalem municipality
claimed that they were surprised by the discovery of human remains.20
Why is the Muslim Cemetery so important, then and now?
•
This particular cemetery is known as
the Ma’man Allah or Mamilla
cemetery, “Sanctuary of God” and is
located in West Jerusalem.21
•
It was in continuous use from at least
the 12th century22 (although Muslim
Old Portrait of Pool in Mamilla Cemetery
(Image: www.palestineremembered.com)
tradition holds that associates of the
Prophet Muhammad are buried there23) until the late 1920s when burials there ceased due to
overcrowding. Some Jerusalem families continued to use their plots during the British Mandate.24
•
Some 15,000 bodies are believed to have been buried in the cemetery.25
18
Lefkovitz, Etgar. “Muslim graves found at planned site of J’lem Museum of Tolerance.” Jerusalem Post. Dec. 4, 2005.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1132475675159&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
19
Steinberg, Jessica.
20
Yanai, Danielle. “Museum of Intolerance?” Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/laoe-yanai23jan23,0,1258170.story
21
Seitz, Charmaine. “Paradise and Gehenna Keep Close Company in Sanctuary of God.” Jerusalem Quarterly.
http://www.jerusalemquarterly.org/pdfs/sanctuary.pdf
22
Steinberg, Jessica.
23
Seitz, Charmaine.
24
Steinberg, Jessica.
25
Seitz, Charmaine.
Page4of12
•
It was a burial site for princes, scholars, Sufis, muftis and judges as well as Jerusalem’s Arab
bourgeoisie.26
•
It is an archeological, historical, and religious treasure, and one of the most important cemeteries
in Israel.27
•
Part of the 42-acre cemetery28 had been covered by a municipal parking lot; another part runs into
(Image: www.palestineremembered.com)
Independence Park, where decaying
headstones can still be seen.29
•
Family members of the deceased still visit the
cemetery. 30
How did the cemetery become a parking lot?
•
Before the creation of Israel, as much as 20
percent of cultivated land in Palestine had been part of the waqf, or religious trust, which was
established to oversee land and assets for religious or cultural purposes.31
•
After the 1948 War, West Jerusalem came under Israeli rule and Israel declared the cemetery and
other land belonging to the Islamic waqf, or trust, to be "absentee property," and was to be
managed by Israel’s Custodian of Absentee Property.32
26
Steinberg, Jessica.
27
Yanai, Danielle.
28
Steinberg, Jessica.
29
Seitz, Charmaine.
30
Seitz, Charmaine.
31
Abu Hussein, Hussein et al. Access Denied: Palestinian Land Rights in Israel. Zed Books. London: 2003.
32
Cook, Jonathan. “Travesty of Tolerance on Display: Museum Lays Waste to Ancient Muslim Cemetery.” Monthly
Review. http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/cook051108.html
Page5of12
•
In 1964, the Israeli Sharia’ Court, whose members are appointed by the Israeli government and are
largely distrusted by Muslims33, ruled that the cemetery area was no longer sacrosanct as it was in
disuse.34 The land was thereafter classified as “public open space” available for use and
development.35
•
In the 1970’s a municipal parking lot was built above a portion of the cemetery.36
•
In 1992 the custodian transferred the land to the municipality, which built over part of it
Independence Park in commemoration of Israel’s 1948 victory.37
•
The cemetery land was gifted to the Wiesenthal Center by the Jerusalem municipality in 2000.38
•
Both Israeli and Jordanian authorities
failed to prevent the desecration or
destruction of religious sites and
cemeteries after the first Arab-Israeli
war in 1948. Israel allowed the
desecration of the Muslim Mamilla
Cemetery in West Jerusalem, and Jordan
allowed the same in the Jewish cemetery
on the Mount of Olives in East
Parking Lot over Mamilla Cemetery (Image: www.weisenthal.com)
Jerusalem.39
33
Cook, Jonathan.
34
Steinberg, Jessica.
35
Mizroch, Amir.
36
Steinberg, Jessica.
37
Cook, Jonathan.
38
Steinberg, Jessica.
39
Fischback, Michael R. “Archaeological theft: creating artifacts on the ground” Daily Star. Oct. 11, 2003.
Page6of12
Has anyone spoken up for the Mamilla Cemetery over the past 50 years?
•
Muslims challenged the initial designation of waqf land as absentee property in Israeli courts, but
to little avail.40
•
In the early 1960’s, Palestinians in Israel demanded that they be allowed to administer their own
holy sites and other properties. An amendment made to the Absentee Property Law in 1965
allowed the creation of boards of trustees to handle remaining waqf property. However, those
boards were appointed by the Israeli government, and mishandled the waqf property.41
•
After the 1967 war, Muslim authorities lobbied to be permitted to rehabilitate and maintain the
graves in Mamilla, but were refused
Mamilla Cemetery (Image: www.palestineremembered.com
permission.42
•
The Arab community in Israel was living
under martial law in 1965, and was unable
to speak out.43
•
In the 70’s and 80’s, Muslim authorities of
the waqf property protested desecration of
graves in the Mamilla cemetery.44
•
The plans for the Museum of Tolerance,
Jerusalem was approved before being presented in full to the Israeli public, while those involved
refused to reveal the plans even after they had been published in foreign architectural
magazines.45
40
Abu Hussein, Hussein et al.
41
Abu Hussein, Hussein et al.
42
Cook, Jonathan.
43
Steinberg, Jessica.
44
Benvenisti, Meron. “The hypocrisy of tolerance.” Haaertz.com Sept. 2, 2006.
45
Esther Zandberg, “The architectural conspiracy of silence,” Haaertz.com
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/825662.html
Page7of12
Hardly a street or neighborhood is without human remains in Jerusalem; should there be no future
construction?
•
For decades, archaeologists have clashed with an ultraorthodox Jewish community that protests
the desecration of grave sites, led by an organization called Atra Kadisha.46
•
Often times these protests have shut down excavations47, stopped multi-million dollar road
construction plans48, airports49, hotels50 and other projects with members of Atra Kadisha
arrested51 and participating in world wide pressure.
•
Israeli archeologists conducted numerous digs after 1967 and Palestinians claimed they were
pillaging their cultural artifacts. This issue had become so sensitive that the early IsraeliPalestinian peace negotiations addressed Israeli digs in the so-called Area C of the West Bank.52
•
Israel Antiquities Authority regulations require that any graves discovered be reported
immediately to the Religious Services Ministry and to Atra Kadisha, the ultra-Orthodox
organization dedicated to preserving ancient Jewish grave sites.
•
Dozens of skeletons from the early Islamic period were discovered during excavations near the
Temple Mount, on a site to be constructed on by the right-wing Elad, an association devoted to
46
“Militants block digging in Israel”, The New York Times. July 23, 1987.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DB153EF930A15754C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted
=all
47
“Militants block digging in Israel.”
48
McCarthy, Rory. “The ultra-Orthodox Jews on a mission to save Jerusalem from secularism,” The Guardian. Aug. 3,
2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/aug/03/israel.religion
49
Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/04.Nov.1999/News/Article-8.html
50
“Hamat Gader” Hotel Site, http://www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist10.htm
51
Klein, Amy. “Police, haredim clash at Road 1,” Jerusalem Post. July 14, 1998. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P115458738.html
52
Fischbach, Michael R.
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Judaizing East Jerusalem. There they plan to build an events hall with underground parking.53
This find was not reported to the Ministry of Religious Services. The Israel Antiquities Authority
termed the incident "a serious mishap."
•
Similarly excavations at the proposed site of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem were neglected
to be reported and remains were mishandled.54
Are those opposing the desecration of the Muslim cemetery extremists or intolerant? Are they all
Muslim?
“A recent judgment by Israel's supreme court will allow the construction of the Simon Wiesenthal
Centre's Museum of Tolerance, designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry, over a Muslim
heritage cemetery of great historical importance in the centre of Jerusalem. It is a blow to peaceful
coexistence in an already divided city…To pursue
Mamilla Cemetery (Image: www.palestineremembered.com)
this divisive project …would seem highly insensitive,
a statement of Israel's hegemony over the
Palestinians, rather than any expression of
"tolerance.’”
Charles Jencks, Richard MacCormack, Neave Brown, Abe
Hayeem, Haifa Hammami, Hans Haenlein, Cezary
Bednarski, Kate Mackintosh, Suad Amiry (Ramallah),
Shmuel Groag (Jerusalem), Beatriz Maturana (Australia),
Walter Hain, Ian Martin and 28 others Architects and
Planners for Justice in Palestine55
53
Rapoport, Meron. “Islamic-era skeletons 'disappeared' from Elad-sponsored dig” Haaretz.com. Jan. 6, 2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988803.html
54
Lefkovits, Etgar.
55
“Opposition to Jerusalem museum.” The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/15/israel-and-thepalestinians
Page9of12
"The cemetery is older than the United States - it's been used for hundreds of years."
Mohammed al-Dejani, whose great-grandfather is buried in the graveyard 56
“As a Jew and an Israeli, I can’t accept the construction of a museum of tolerance in an area of a
Muslim cemetery. Yes, you can say that the Muslim religious court once support it. But so what?
What says we can continue with this kind of behavior? In 2006, we don’t want to continue with it.”
Professor Shimon Shamir, History of Middle East at Tel Aviv University57
“Personally, the concept of a
museum of tolerance that causes
such a lack of tolerance at its
inception is hard to believe. But who
knows?”
Professor Aren Maeir, Chair, Institute of
Biblical Archeology at Bar-Ilan
University58
Grave in Mamilla Cemetery (Image: www.bbc.co.uk)
“There are certain rules of the game for keeping Jerusalem a place where all three religions can coexist
together; this is perhaps the only place in the world where we can celebrate each other’s diversity. In
this case, the relevant rule is that we have to respect the places that are holy to each other. The
Wiesenthal Center, of all places, should have sensitivity to these kinds of issues, a museum of
tolerance is even more outrageous.”
Gershon Baskin, co-CEO of Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, a think tank dedicated
to seeking solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict59
56
Wyre Davies, “Row over Jerusalem Muslim Cemetery,” November 11, 2008. http://www.miftah.org
57
Steinberg, Jessica.
58
Steinberg, Jessica.
59
Steinberg, Jessica.
Page10of12
“The ADL believes that a Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem can be an important institution for
educating against bias and for respect and understanding. We trust that the same tenets that
undergird [sic] the museum’s mission will be applied to finding a resolution to address the concerns
of the Muslim community and the families of those whose graves have been discovered…To do less
would weaken the foundation upon which a museum of tolerance stands.”
Anti-Defamation League’s Israel’s office statement released to the press60
“[Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin] spoke in the meeting [of the Interior Committee of the Knesset]
about his parents, buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in east Jerusalem, and the rage he would
feel if someone tried to build a museum on their graves.”
Gershon Baskin in “Encountering Peace: A city of tolerance, not a Museum of Tolerance”
“Can a museum under the mantle of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stand up to comparisons with
efforts in Europe to erect modern buildings on land that was once Jewish cemeteries or concentration
camps? Imagine that kind of outcry!
Jerusalem is too fragile a place for a flamboyant building, however well-intentioned, that
creates ill will among a significant sector of the population that shows no signs of accepting it. As one
call to action put it: “The legal battle has been lost. . . we must move on to the political battle.” Is a socalled Museum of Tolerance worth turning the Holy City into a battleground once again, in the 21st
century?”61
Buzzy Gordon, former Israeli Spokesman, “An Intolerable Spot for a Museum”
60
Mizroch, Amir.
Gordon, Buzzy. “An Intolerable Spot for a Museum.” The Forward. Nov. 20, 2008.
http://www.forward.com/articles/14592/
61
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“The rest [of Muslim graveyards] have vanished, whether because the tombstones crumbled or
because the sites were used for roads, farming or building . . . The Muslim cemeteries’ condition is so
outrageous that if it existed in another civilized state it would raise a public storm.”
Meron Benvenisti, former deputy-mayor of Jerusalem62
62
Benvenisti, Meron.
Page12of12

Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem

Transcription

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