2006-02-10-tolerance museum in jerusalem

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