The Jerusalem Municipality, in cooperation with the Prime
Minister's Office, is set to launch Mayor Rabbi Uri
Lupoliansky's revolutionary plan to renovate and develop the
Mount of Olives cemetery.
The NIS 100-million project, to be carried out by the
Jerusalem Municipality through the Jerusalem Development
Authority, calls for the renovation of tens of thousands of
gravesites, upgrading security, the construction of a stone
wall around the entire cemetery, road construction, cleanup
and maintenance and the construction of a large information
center.
Many gravestones and gravesites were desecrated during
Jordanian rule, including incidents in which the local Arab
population carted off gravestones for use in construction.
Roads laid by the Jordanians also led to the destruction of
numerous gravesites.
After the Six-Day War in 5727 (1967) Jews once again had
access to the cemetery, but since then only a portion of it
has been renovated and the gravestones and gravesites are
still in need of renewal work. Ezri Levy, director of the
Jerusalem Development Authority, says the project is
scheduled to take five years due to the nature of the site,
which does not permit the use of heavy equipment, and the
need to thoroughly attend to every gravesite.
Development work on the cemetery itself will include support
walls the length of the mountain slope to prevent erosion,
which poses a threat primarily in the area of the Sephardic
sections. Lighting will be installed and a road will be built
to provide access to all of the graves.
To prevent further damage to the cemetery, the Mayor has
issued instructions to introduce new security arrangements
using various technologies to provide round-the-clock
security, including cameras installed at Nachal Kidron,
Nachal Yehoshafat and the entire tourist area, transmitting
images to a control center, which will operate in conjunction
with the police.
The information center to be built at the entrance will
include halls for tefilloh and gatherings, and the
Jerusalem Municipality, in cooperation with the various
burial societies operating at the cemetery, is compiling a
database with information on all the graves. Once the grave
mapping is complete, a process expected to cost hundreds of
thousands of shekels, staff members will be on hand to direct
visitors using the maps. The visitor center will also provide
extensive material and written information about gedolei
Torah buried at the Mount of Olives.
