Israeli newspaper says construction of Jerusalem museum damages skeletons from Muslim cemetery

Report: Jerusalem museum excavation damages bones

JERUSALEM — Excavators rushing to clear ground for a museum dedicated to tolerance in Jerusalem have damaged many remains while exhuming more than 1,000 skeletons from a medieval Muslim cemetery, a leading Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

Israel’s Antiquities Authority, which has been overseeing the controversial project, confirmed skeletons had been removed from the cemetery but denied that the remains were mistreated.

“The skeletons were professionally evacuated with great dignity and respect for the dead as has been done at other places in the country without objection,” it said in a statement released Tuesday. “They are acting to present empty pictures in order to sow incitement.”

The project, which is being funded by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization based in Los Angeles, has been mired in controversy since it was announced in 2003.

Muslim groups have been attempting to halt construction of the Museum of Tolerance because it is to be built on top of the cemetery, which dates back at least to the 14th century.

Haaretz published pictures it said were from the excavations showing full human skeletons and fractured human skulls. In one photo a skull is seen bearing multiple fractures. Another shows a skull peering through a mound of dirt.

The newspaper cited unnamed workers as saying that several skeletons and graves had been damaged during the excavation. It also quoted the lead archaeologist in charge of the dig Gideon Sulimani as saying that the job was rushed. Sulimani could not be reached for comment.

The museum will be modeled on an existing one in Los Angeles that opened in 1993 and receives over 250,000 visits a year. Organizers have said it will use interactive technology to present scenarios on social issues of the day including hate crimes and terrorism.

In 2008, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a formal challenge to the museum’s construction at the site, but instructed excavators to carefully remove the graves and bones they unearthed to an alternate location. The new burial ground, located along the perimeter of the construction site, lies outside the area where the museum building is planned.

Rabbi Marvin Heir, the founder of the Wiesenthal Center, also discounted accusations that the site — which was previously a parking lot — had been improperly excavated.

“This is an old city — if you dig deep enough underneath, you’re going to find something,” Hier said, adding that he expected construction on the museum to begin later this year. “If the court had told us we were wrong, we would have moved immediately.”