2006-02-10-Tolerance Museum in Jerusalem |
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jewishsightseeing.com, February 9, 2006 |
By Ira Sharkansky
For those of you who think that Jerusalem needs another
grandiose memorial, a $150 million Center for Human Dignity Museum of
Tolerance is scheduled to open near the center of town. It is part
of the Simon Wiesenthal collection of activities, dedicated to "
preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and
understanding through community involvement, educational outreach and
social action."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has a presence in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Paris, and Jerusalem. What about Yad Vashem, established in 1953 by the Israeli government, and now consisting of numerous buildings and memorials spread over its own mountain top? That is in another part of town.
For those who want to read more, perhaps donate to the
Wisenthal project or buy something at the online store, see http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=245500
Alas, there are a couple of problems.
One is that the land chosen for the museum is a Muslim
cemetery. In the 30 years since I have lived here, I have never seen
anyone paying respects at the site. The gravestones are broken and
partly overgrown. Along with providing short cuts between city
locations, the area seems to have served as a place for quick love,
informal toilets, camp site for the homeless or daring tourists, and
scattering trash associated with all of the above.
Now that the Museum of Tolerance is in the first stages
of construction, guess who has discovered that it is a holy site that
must not be desecrated? A Sharia Court has ruled against disturbing the
graves, and opponents are planning a weightier appeal to Israel's
Supreme Court.
There is also another problem. Museum officials are
proving less than tolerant toward the Jerusalem Municipality and Hebrew
University, which have joint plans to construct a multi-story student
dormitory in the vicinity. According to museum officials, plans for the
dormitory will spoil the setting conceived by their renowned
architect, Frank O. Gehry. The museum is arguing against approving the
university's project by the official planning authorities. It is
charging that the university and municipality should have consulted with
them before proceeding with their plans. The initial response of the
university and municipality is that it is important to build a dormitory
in the area, which will help to revitalize the center of town with
several hundred young, well educated, and wealthier than average student
residents. They might add that the museum could have checked
property records in order to see what other projects were underway
before proceeding with its plans.
In any case, this battle of titans (Simon Wiesenthal,
Hebrew University, the Municipality of Jerusalem, and unknown numbers of
aroused Muslims) is likely to take a while. Plans for moving forward
with the museum are on hold, and visitors may have to wait beyond the
promised opening of 2009.
Sharkansky is an emeritus member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem |