Israeli Court In Middle of Dispute Over Removal of Tombstones From Area Said To Contain No Graves

According to last Friday's New York Times, in Israel last week, a Jerusalem district court initially agreed with the city and the Israel Antiquities Authority that the Aqsa Foundation had placed tombstones on top of an area of the former Ma'man Allah Cemetery where there were no graves in an attempt to prevent construction by the Simon Wiesenthal Center of a Museum of Tolerance. When the project was announced, Muslim objections were voiced because the parking lot which was the site of the proposed building had nearly a century ago been part of a Muslim cemetery. (See prior posting.)  The Wiesenthal Center says there are no human remains in the part where it plans to build. With the consent of the city, the Aqsa Foundation has been restoring an adjacent area.  Apparently the Foundation brought 300 tombstones into the Wiesenthal Center construction area, outside the portion on which the Foundation was supposed to be working. Last Monday, with consent by the court, city authorities began to clear out those tombstones. A Muslim sheik tried to stop the work and was injured. The Foundation went back to court last Wednesday and on Thursday the court called on both sides to return with further evidence.