The New York Times reports today that sixty Palestinians (represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York) have signed a petition to the United Nations asking it to take steps to stop construction in Jerusalem of the Center for Human Dignity- Museum of Tolerance being built by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The museum is being built on land that was used as a parking lot for 50 years. However before that, part of the area was a Muslim cemetery. A school, a road and a large park cover the rest of the former cemetery, however descendants of some of those buried in the cemetery now want the museum construction halted. When digging for construction began in 2004, layers of graves dating back to the 11th century were found, and 250 skeletons have been exhumed. The site probably contains some 2000 graves. In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the museum construction could go ahead but ordered the Museum to create a plan with the state Antiquities Authority to either remove human remains for reburial or to build a barrier between the museum foundation and the ground below to avoid disturbing graves. (See prior posting.)
UPDATE: In a Feb. 10 response, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in part: "the Israeli Antiquities Authority has confirmed that there are no bones or remains on the site, which is currently undergoing infrastructure work. Remains found on the site, which have now been reinterred in a nearby Muslim cemetery were between 300-400 years old. No remains from the 12th century era were found."
