Politics

By TPS-IL • November 17, 2025

Jerusalem, 17 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — On the winding slopes of Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, amid the ancient tombstones of the world’s oldest Jewish cemetery, construction is underway on a new 1,500-square-meter visitor education center.

Israel’s government, together with the International Committee for Har Hazeitim (ICHH), is developing the center as part of a major initiative to educate visitors about the site’s unparalleled Jewish heritage while significantly upgrading its security and maintenance.

The Mount of Olives cemetery is the final resting place of some 150,000 Jews, including prominent Zionist leaders and cultural icons such as Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Nobel laureate Shai Agnon, and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew.

For many visitors, the Mount of Olives carries deep spiritual resonance beyond its Jewish heritage. Christians see it as the backdrop to key events in the life of Jesus, while Muslims regard it as part of the landscape overlooking Islam’s third holiest site, the al-Aqsa compound – revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. This shared reverence adds emotional weight to every tour and every restoration effort on the mountain.

“It constitutes the pantheon of the Jewish people — an unrivaled center of Jewish history and education,” the ICHH said in a statement, noting that the committee was founded in 2010 following a critical report by Israel’s State Comptroller about neglect and repeated vandalism at the site.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was the lack of security: the desecration, the vandalism by adolescents from eastern Jerusalem,” said Jeff Daub, ICHH’s Israel chairman.

In response, the new visitor education center will incorporate a police substation, undercover officers, reinforced fencing and gates, upgraded lighting, more than 230 security cameras, and around-the-clock monitoring. The project’s total budget is 25 million NIS (over $7.7 million USD), according to the ICHH.

“ICHH and the Government of Israel quickly understood that the best way to ensure the safety of tourists, students, and mourners was to attract more visitors — and that required a permanent police presence,” the committee said.

The center will therefore serve both as an enhanced security hub and as an orientation, information, and touring facility for the hundreds of thousands who visit the Mount of Olives each year.

“Everyone is welcome — Jews, Christians, Muslims, tourists, soldiers, students,” Daub said. “But its purpose is to highlight the Jewish presence on the Mount of Olives.”

Construction is expected to be completed by December 2026, with the opening scheduled for February 2027, Daub added.