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Mosque developer insists on building Ground Zero Islamic centre

18 August 2010 02:12 (UTC +04:00)

The developer for an Islamic centre near the destroyed World Trade Center said Tuesday that the controversial project would go ahead despite strong protests from politicians and citizens, APA reports quoting Earth Times.

Sharif El-Gamal said in an interview with NY1, a New York City television channel, that he plans to build the Islamic community centre and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero.

"A landmark, an iconic building that will have people come and visit it from around the world," El-Gamal said. "This looks like it is going to be the most famous community centre in the world."

"Park51 is a community centre," he said. "It is two blocks north of the World Trade Center site. In New York City, two blocks is a great distance.

"There are some buildings in New York that have their own zip codes. There is such a scarcity of space in New York, especially in Lower Manhattan. Keep in mind this is a small island, so we are nowhere near the World Trade Center site."

El-Gamal said he was surprised at the debate raging across the United States on the construction of the Islamic centre.

"There are issues that are affecting our country, which are real issues: Unemployment, poverty, the economy," he said. "And it’s a really sad day for America when our politicians choose to look at a constitutional right and use that as basis for their elections."

The Cordoba Institute, headed by long-time New York resident Imam Feisal Abdulrauf bought the run-down building at 45-47 Park Place, a former textile factory, in 2009 and began holding prayer services there.

The building and the project for a centre became known as Park51 after New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission refused to grant the site landmark status. The decision allowed the developer to renovate the building.

The Cordoba Institute’s insistence on transforming the site into an Islamic centre, likening it to a YMCA or a Jewish community centre, came just weeks before the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center’s 110-storey twin towers on September 11, 2001.

The terrorist attacks, which killed more than 2,700 people in Lower Manhattan, continue to stir raw emotions in New York. Opponents of the Islamic centre said the developer and owner of the building are being insensitive to victims of the terrorist attacks.

The Islamic centre project has pitted Republicans, who are opposed to it, against Democrats in the US political sphere. The Jewish Anti- Defamation League and some families of the 9/11 victims have spoken out against it.

The Cordoba Institute’s project received a boost when President Barack Obama publicly supported freedom of religion and the right to erect a place of worship. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also defended the idea to build a mosque at the site.

The New York Post reported Tuesday that New York Governor David Paterson plans to meet this week with the developer and the imam to try and convince them to relocate the project to another location far away from Ground Zero.

Paterson, in an effort to defuse tensions, has offered a state- held property for the Islamic centre. But he did not say where it was, and apparently the developer had rejected it.

"We are working with the developers on a staff level but there have not been any formal discussions between the governor and imam or developer," said Morgan Hook, a spokesman for Paterson. "However, we expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future."