Muslims Planned to Build on Cemetary in 1945

There has been an ongoing debate for years about a plot of land in downtown Jerusalem.  Plans have been discussed to build a museum of tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery.  This might sound bad for the Israelis, but the history of the plot is not so cut and dry.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Muslims planned to build on the Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem in 1945.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Tuesday accused opponents of its plans to build a museum near a historic Muslim cemetery in central Jerusalem of “sheer hypocrisy” after the center obtained information showing that the Supreme Muslim Council of British Mandate Palestine had planned to build a large commercial center directly on top of the cemetery in 1945. A November 22, 1945, article from The Palestine Post (the pre-state name of The Jerusalem Post) states, “An area of over 450 dunams in the heart of Jerusalem, now forming the Mamilla Cemetery, is to be converted into a business center. The town-plan is being completed under the supervision of the Supreme Moslem Council.”

“In an interview with Al-Wih-da, the Jerusalem weekly, a member of the Supreme Muslim Council stated that the use of Muslim! cemeteries in the public interest had many precedents both in Palestine and elsewhere. The member added that the Supreme Muslim Council intended to publish a statement containing dispensations by Egyptian, Hijazi and Demascene clerics sanctioning the building program.”