Synopsis

Sign an international petition from the Campaign to Preserve Mamilla Jerusalem Cemetery.

 

Description

In February 2010, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a petition with the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council to halt the further destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem for the construction of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s (SWC) so-called “Center for Human Dignity – Museum of Tolerance.” Hundreds of graves have been disinterred and the whereabouts of countless human remains are unknown since construction began on this ancient holy site. CCR is working with the descendants of those buried in Mamilla to stop the violation of their cultural rights and religious freedoms. Sign an international petition from the Campaign to Preserve Mamilla Jerusalem Cemetery today to help keep the pressure on the U.N. and the SWC.

In addition to the extraordinary media coverage and political organizing around the desecration of the Mamilla Cemetery, diplomatic actions are being taken. In New York, the Arab Group has raised the importance of protecting this Islamic antiquity in Jerusalem in a letter to the U.N. Security Council. In Geneva, a Palestinian delegation raised the destruction of the Mamilla Cemetery at a Human Rights Council Session with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion. And today the Human Rights Council is considering a resolution proposed by Palestine demanding that the state of Israel “immediately desist from such illegal acts” such as “the excavation of ancient tombs and removal of hundreds of human remains” from Mamilla Cemetery.

Despite widespread international condemnation of these human rights violations, the SWC is continuing with construction of its “Museum of Tolerance,” and refusing to build on a different site. Sign the petition today to halt construction and establish this holy site as an antiquity that should be preserved and protected.

Please help spread the word about this fight to protect cultural and religious rights.