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Jewish Leaders Demand Increased Protection at Mount of Olives Cemetery

(AP-Washington Post) Israelis and American Jewish leaders are demanding that the Israeli government increase protection to ensure that those buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem can rest in peace. Israelis claim Palestinians from surrounding east Jerusalem neighborhoods attack visitors two to three times a week, sometimes stoning funeral processions. They accuse Arabs of building illegally on top of graves, using tombstones as goalposts for soccer games and lobbing firebombs to desecrate the cemetery. At a recent visit to the cemetery, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he's heard from hundreds of families in the U.S. who can't visit buried relatives without protection from armed guards. "In Jerusalem, Jews can't go and visit an ancient burial site that is supposedly sacred?" Hoenlein asked. At least 150,000 graves line the hill opposite the Temple Mount. Between 1948 and 1967, when the Mount of Olives was under Jordanian control, some 40,000 graves were destroyed. In some parts of the cemetery, vandalism has reduced many gravestones to piles of shattered shards. Arabic graffiti blots some of the walls.
2011-03-24 00:00:00
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