In 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court - dismissing the appeals not only of Palestinians with relatives buried there but also the protests of Jews appalled by desecration of any cemetery - cleared the way for the project. Palestinian and Muslim concerns were ignored until a lawsuit led to the suspension of excavation in 2006.
In 2002, the Wiesenthal Center - which had been given part of the cemetery by the city of Jerusalem - announced that architect Frank Gehry would design a complex to be called the Center for Human Dignity-Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.