Jerusalem24 – Yesterday, Wednesday, the Israeli Municipality in occupied Jerusalem announced that an agreement was reached between Minister of Jerusalem, Housing and Heritage Ze’ev Elkin and Mayor Moshe Leon, as part of the Israeli government’s decision to develop the so-called (Holy Basin) on parts of the Mount of Olives – the highest Jewish cemetery in Al-Tur in Jerusalem Sharqiya – to build a synagogue, a cemetery research institute, a center for Jewish visitors, a cemetery gallery, a lecture hall, a cartographic office, a Jewish office, a security center to protect these buildings and the Jewish cemetery, with an open budget in the millions of shekels.
And the occupation municipality said in a brief statement with a picture of the ceremony, “Behind this agreement and the great project in East Jerusalem are Minister Elkin, the mayor, and activists from the International Committee for the Protection of the Mount of Olives headed by the brothers Avraham and Menachem Lubinsky, who said: We have been dreaming about this project for 10 years on this historical place. The great.”
The municipality revealed that the announcement of the establishment of the visitor center came in a special ceremony held at the Seven Arches Hotel on the summit of Mount Al-Tur, and was also attended by about 30 representatives of the “International Committee for the Protection of the Mount of Olives”, during which an agreement was signed to implement the construction of the visitor center – the vision of the Lubinsky brothers and the Committee for the Protection of the Mount of Olives.
The occupation municipality claimed that in recent years, Minister Elkin and the mayor started pushing this big project to build the visitor center, and they saw that it represents an important high value for Jerusalem in general and the Mount of Olives in particular for the honorable strategic location and the place that is an asset that can be exploited to strengthen the Jewish presence in East of the city near the Jewish cemetery.
According to the plan, the “Jewish Visitor Center” will include a synagogue – accommodating large numbers / pre-burial, a training center, libraries, souvenir shops, cemetery gallery, auditorium, institute for cemetery research, cartography, an observation center, and more.
The “Jewish Visitors Center” will contain an information center about tens of thousands of Jews buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, knowing that it is an Islamic endowment land that was leased at the turn of the last century before the First World War.
“The connection to Jerusalem begins here on the Mount of Olives,” Minister Elkin said. “My profession is to preserve the history of the people of Israel. 100 years ago the cemetery on the Mount of Olives was erected here – this cemetery, one of the most important places for the people of Israel overlooking the Old City and in the heart of the Holy Basin.”
The mayor of the occupation, Leon, turned to the Lubinsky brothers and said: “Now we are lucky to realize your dream. I mobilized the government and I mobilized myself, and with the municipality in the coming period for an unprecedented development, the city is developing in the east and west… And I must tell you that the security in the place is increasing Stronger and stronger, and there is no doubt that the visitor center project will increase security in East Jerusalem, and we will finally know all the names of the Jews buried there together, so we will establish a security center and a strong observation point here.”
“We gather here together to remember the 150,000 Jews buried at the Mount of Olives cemetery,” Avraham Lubinsky said. “We will work together with all of you on the construction of the visitor center and look forward to working with the government to complete construction as quickly as possible.”
Menachem Lubinsky said: “We were dreamers who would have thought that we would be able to build such a center on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem. I hope that thousands of Jews will come to the Mount of Olives, who have known and recognized this great historical property.”
He added, “The idea of this huge project in this honorable place overlooking Jerusalem from all sides, where thousands of Jews were buried during the last 100 years. The Mount of Olives, I thought of it along with Mayor Leon who worked hard for years, even before entering the office as mayor, for the Mount of Olives that we want.”
