FEBRUARY 25th EMERGENCY PUBLIC FORUM

Arab Version of 'Price Tag' Violence on Mt. of Olives Faces Mass Public
Protest Meeting

What: The International Committee for the Preservation of Har Hazeitim (
http://www.saveharhazeitim.org/ ) will call an emergency forum to turn back
the newest round of violence on the Mt. of Olives Cemetery. The oldest and
largest Jewish cemetery in the world, this site is subjected to non-stop
violence against visitors, grave desecrations, an unlawful mosque expansion,
illegal building – all part of a concerted Arab effort to assert control
over the burial site used by Jews for 3,000 years.

Keynote speakers Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Daniel Ayalon and
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Exec. Vice
Chair Malcolm Hoenlein, with Knesset Members Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Yoel
Hasson (Kadima) & Isaac Herzog (Labor), will explore today's urgent concerns
& review progress made in recent months.

When: The English-language program will begin at 8:30 pm sharp, Saturday,
February 25, 2012 (TV crews can set up from 7:30 pm)

Where: Jerusalem Great Synagogue (56 King George St / Jerusalem)

For further information & media registration (for security reasons),
contact:

Rafi Fischer
Lone Star Communications – Jerusalem
rafi@lonestar.co.il
+972 54-325-8380

SITE VISIT: Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein will lead a tour of the Mount
of Olives cemetery which will highlight the challenges facing the burial
ground.

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MOUNT OF OLIVES CEMETERY / HAR HAZEITIM
The historic cemetery, known in Hebrew as Har Hazeitim, overlooks Jerusalem’s
Old City and is home to graves traditionally associated with Biblical
figures as well as modern-day Israeli legends including Prime Minister
Menachem Begin, reviver of modern Hebrew Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and founder of
Hadassah Women in America Henrietta Szold, along with three of the original
prophets – Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi. The Mount of Olives – the world’s
oldest and largest Jewish cemetery – has been in use for over 3,000 years
and is comprised of approximately 150,000 graves or more. The site is also
holy to Christians and there are numerous churches in the vicinity.

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HAR HAZEITIM
The focused aim of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har
Hazeitim (www.saveharhazeitim.org) is the
need to sustainably improve the current situation at the Mount of Olives
Cemetery in Jerusalem. The ICPHH is driven to ameliorate and react to the
rampant and systematic grave desecrations, violence directed at visitors,
illegal building on land zoned for cemetery use, general, widespread neglect
and – currently taking place – the illegal expansion of a mosque situated
just meters away from the grave of Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Top leadership of the International Committee for the Preservation of Har
Hazeitim includes Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations as well as
the heads of major US-based and Israel-based Jewish organizations and an
active Jerusalem-based Steering Committee (the Israel branch of the ICPHH).