BBC reporter gives false impression about Jerusalem building plans
At no point during this report is it made clear that the planned site of the museum is restricted to what is presently a car park adjacent to the area containing Muslim gravestones. This car park has been situated on the site of a Muslim burial ground for 48 years. Instead, the report gives the false impression that the Simon Wiesenthal Center proposes to build a structure on top of a previously undisturbed cemetery. For example, in the journalist’s final comments, he describes the state of disrepair of gravestones in the cemetery, even though none of these will be touched by the development.
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'Transcript of Radio 4 Today broadcast'
BBC Radio 4, by Wyre Davies, 8 November 2008
Presenter: Religious leaders in Jerusalem are warning of dangerous consequences after a decision by Israel’s Supreme Court to allow the destruction of part of an ancient Muslim cemetery. The plan is to build a Jewish Museum of Tolerance. The graveyard hasn’t been used for more than fifty years but contains the bodies of some important Islamic figures and many of them will now be disturbed to make way for the new centre. Wyre Davis reports from Jerusalem.
(sound of chanting in Arabic)
Wyre Davies: Hundreds of Muslims young and old marching through the centre of Jerusalem towards the city’s Mamamila cemetery. Police helicopters flew overhead and security was tight. The focus of the march and of increasing Muslim anger was a decision by Israel’s Supreme Court allowing the Jewish Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a huge new Museum of Tolerance on part of the Muslim cemetery.
(sound of chanting in Arabic)
WD: The Islamic authorities and the general Muslim population of east Jerusalem may have been a bit late in waking up to this story, perhaps too late now the court decision has gone through. Nonetheless, several hundred of them are now making their feelings heard as they march from east Jerusalem towards the cemetery itself.
(chanting and reading the Koran in Arabic)
WD: Located just inside what is now Jewish west Jerusalem the cemetery may not have been used for more than 50 years, but as they arrive for a rally, Muslim leaders made it clear they still regard it as sacred, reading verses from the Koran. The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, led the peaceful but passionate demonstration. He called the court’s decision an outrage.
Sheikh Mohammed Hussein (BBC translation): This is important because this is a Muslim cemetery. It is known that a cemetery is a place which should guard the final dignity for all human being, not only for Muslims but for all human beings. We must protect the dignity of the dead.
WD: The $250 million complex, designed by Frank Gehry, which will be built by the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal organisation, is bold and ambitious. Its sharp futuristic lines will dominate the immediate area. In what is already a crowded city, Rabbi Marvin Hier from the Wiesenthal Center says the Museum is a sensible use of what he says is derelict land.
Rabbi Marvin Hier: In various communities all over Jerusalem bones are found. They are Jewish bones and they manage to build on top of them. This is a standard procedure in Jerusalem otherwise Jerusalem would have to be declared one large cemetery because beneath every street and every house, if you dig down, you’re going to find bones or relics of the past.
WD: Muslims who still visit the graves of their ancestors disagree and point to the graveyard’s historical importance. Mohammed Al Dajani, whose great grandfather is buried at Mamamila was part of the court action which failed to stop the Wiesenthal Center’s project.
Mohammed Al Dajani: It is a cemetery before the existence of the United States of America, it has a long history. Saladin, when he liberated Jerusalem, his soldiers are buried there. Because I mean a human been living all his life and the minute he is dead he is a rubbish – it couldn’t be accepted.
WD: Despite the strength of feeling among an increasing number of Muslims, there’s no doubt that much of the cemetery is run down. Some graves have been vandalised, others are in a poor state of repair. Ruling in favour of the Wiesenthal Center, the Supreme Court noted that no objections were lodged in 1960 when part of the graveyard was made into a parking lot. The Mamamila cemetery is still a relatively quiet, sacred place, but one which could become another dangerous flashpoint between Jews and Muslims in this divided city.