Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality bulldozers destroyed on Sunday 26 June 2011 the remaining tombs of the historic Ma’man Allah Cemetery in Jerusalem, as part of the continued erasure of Palestinian identity and history.
Ma’man Allah Cemetery (also known as Ma’manullah Cemetery , Maman Allah or Mamilla Cemetery) is one of the largest and oldest Islamic cemeteries in Jerusalem. Located within the grounds of West Jerusalem’s Independence Park (a post-1948 addition to the city’s landscape that nibbled away from the original graveyard) , the cemetery dates back to at least the 12th century, with some archeologists suggesting it could date back to the times of the prophet Mohammed. It is the burial ground for a number of the companions of the Prophet as well as scholars, notables, martyrs and the general Muslim population of Jerusalem. People who fought with Saladin in the Crusades are buried there. Ma’man Allah cemetery used to sit on an area of approximately over 200 dunums, but just 24 of those still remained. The cemetery was already subjected to important demolishing as of 2008, when the Israeli government began exhuming graves to make room for a number of settlement projects, including a ‘Museum of Tolerance’, an Israeli Court Complex and a car park. Many protests were made in opposition to the continued desecrations, starting from as early as the 60’s, but in vain.
Al-Aqsa Foundation reported that the bulldozers had been carrying out excavations in Ma’manullah cemetery since 11pm on Saturday night, of about a hundred graves in three separate areas. Workers were also evacuating corpses using trucks.
Just like with the Independence Park, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance will further remove the physical markers of an Arab presence in the holy land. To note that similar cases have previously occurred in Ein Karem, Deir Yassin, and al-Malha…