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Jews join Muslims in calling on Wiesenthal Center to abandon plans to build on Muslim cemetery |
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By Saaqib Rangoonwala, Staff Writer
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Friday, 05 December 2008 |
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ANAHEIM, Calif. – Three Jewish groups have joined the Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in calling on the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to change the location of a museum it plans to build in Jerusalem. The current site for the planned museum is a Muslim cemetery.
According to historians, the planned museum site was once the largest Muslim cemetery in Palestine. Companions of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and Islamic jurists and scholars are said to be buried there.
The Israeli government go-ahead for construction of the museum came only after a lengthy court battle.
A letter sent to the Wiesenthal Center, signed by CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush, Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs of the Progressive Faith Foundation, Sydney Levy of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Rabbi Haim Beliak of Jews on First stated in part, "Building a ‘Museum of Tolerance’ atop the cemetery, unlike the admirable goal of furthering tolerance and understanding, will only add to the existing pain and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, irreversibly damage relations between Muslims and Jews worldwide and sow new feelings of animosity and division for generations to come."
Ayloush urged that burial sites of all faiths be respected.
"Does Jerusalem not belong to all faiths?" he asked. "We all have a responsibility to promote tolerance through our actions and not just with empty slogans or names on buildings."
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 13 December 2009 )
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