This book discusses the controversy of the construction of the Museum of Tolerance in Mamilla , on a plot that had in the past been a Muslim cemetery. This conflict reflects a clash between human dignity (respect for the deceased) and the urban development of interest of modern societies. It also reflects a conflict between the needs of the Jewish State and the sensitivities of the Muslim- Arab minority, with its needs for symbols of identity in the local and national landscapes.

The main issues addressed in this book are addressed at three levels: The individual case of a conflict over the location of the Museum, the political level in the context of majority-minority relations and the universal level of objectivity versus ideological and political positions.

The case of Mamilla offers a number of political lessons regarding the eruption of conflict following development projects on plots of land within historical cemeteries in Israel.