I’m writing to share an alarming development regarding the Mamilla
Cemetery in Jerusalem. This past weekend, only weeks after a Jerusalem
Municipal planning committee granted final permission for construction of
the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s so-called “Museum of Tolerance” atop the
oldest Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, Israeli bulldozers entered the part
of the ancient Mamilla Cemetery that remained intact to destroy and
dispose of nearly 100 grave markers, both ancient and renovated.
The bulldozers worked under the cover of night (from 11pm to 1am on June
25-26, 2011), and retreated hastily when their operators realized that
they were being filmed by local media and activists, as can be seen in the
coverage broadcast by Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxDqH3rrMPo&feature=player_embedded; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNdw2tQK0Cg&feature=player_embedded.
Even before this weekend’s developments, preparatory construction for this
Museum had already resulted in the destruction and disinterment of
thousands of Muslim graves and human remains. Gideon Suleimani, the chief
archaeologist appointed by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to
excavate the site, concluded after a review of the site that construction
should not continue and that the IAA’s conduct on the site, which contains
“tens of thousands of skeletons,” constituted an “archeological crime.”
Can you help get the word out to archeologists and anthropologists and see
if any network or group would be willing to organize against this- either
through a statement, an open letter, or any other ideas that might emerge?
I think it would be very powerful to have that sector of academics and
professionals speak out on this. If you know of any groups that are
concerned about cemetery desecrations please send this email to them.
CCR has been involved in an effort by 60 individual descendants from 15 of
Jerusalem’s oldest Muslim families; we worked with a group of advocates to
submit a Petition in February 2010 to United Nations bodies urging them to
help stop the building of the Museum atop the cemetery. You can find more
information about this effort, as well as a 2-page factsheet for
distribution, here: http://www.ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/mamilla.
The U.N. Human Rights Council in 2010 and 2011 passed two resolutions expressing “its
grave concern at the excavation of ancient tombs and removal of hundreds
of human remains from part of the historic Ma’man Allah (Mamilla) Cemetery
in the holy city of Jerusalem in order to construct a museum of
tolerance.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
has asked Israel what measures it was implementing to respect and protect
cultural heritage and cultural property as well as freedom of religion or
belief with regards to Mamilla Cemetery, and UNESCO has also raised the
issue of Mamilla Cemetery with Israel. Unfortunately, most recently,
UNESCO has responded to Petitioners that the Mamilla Cemetery is outside
of their mandate, despite the fact that in the past they have urged the
protection of Palestinian cultural heritage throughout the Holy City of
Jerusalem, including the Mamilla Cemetery.
Close to 10,000 individuals have signed a public petition supporting the
demands of the UN Petition, which include the reburial of disinterred
remains, the relocation of the Museum outside of the Cemetery, and the
preservation of the Cemetery as a religious and cultural heritage site
(see:
