Court rejects Muslim appeals, gives Tolerance Museum go-ahead

The High Court yesterday gave the final go-ahead for the Museum of Tolerance, rejecting appeals by Muslims who complained that the museum will be built on part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

The justices ruled that since no objections were raised in 1960, when the city put a parking lot over a small section of the graveyard, they would not block construction of the museum on that same site now.

The Museum of Tolerance was designed to bring this contentious city's warring tribes together. But its planning alone has sparked a political, religious and historical fight between Muslims and Jews.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Los Angeles-based Jewish organization behind the project, welcomed the court ruling and said work on the $250 million museum would resume immediately, after a two-year delay due to the legal proceedings.

"All citizens of Israel, Jews and non-Jews, are the real beneficiaries of this decision," said Wiesenthal Center founder Rabbi Marvin Hier in a statement.

However Zahi Nujidat, Israel's Islamic Movement spokesman, condemned the court for its clear religious and ethnic oppression, as he put it.

The cemetery at issue contains graves up to 400 years old. However, it has not been used since Israel's independence, and much of it and the surrounding area has become part of Independence Park, in the heart of Jewish West Jerusalem.

In their ruling, the justices authorized the construction of the museum on the condition that the human remains are reburied at an alternative site, or that the museum is built upon pillars so that the graves beneath are not disturbed.

The center is to include a conference center, a theater, and museums for adults and children, with exhibits on Jewish history and Israel's relations with its Arab neighbors.