Jerusalem: Looking up to Mahatma Gandhi`s message of peace, Jerusalem municipality is mulling over establishing a memorial for the Indian leader, which will include a statue of Bapu and a mediation centre, in an area connecting a Jewish neighbourhood and an Arab one.
"This gesture comes too late by 64 years," the initiator of the idea and fundraiser, Councilman Dr Meir Margalit, told Ma`ariv.
"We should have had long cherished a global scale personality that broke boundaries not only in India but worldwide," Margalit added.
The exact location for the memorial has not yet been determined but it appears that it will be on the border of Arab neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber and the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon HaNetsiv, to illustrate how to solve the Arab - Israeli conflict through peaceful means, as Gandhi would have wished, the report said.
The statue of India`s Father of the Nation is being contributed by the municipality of Geneva and is identical to the one put up by it to honour the symbol of non-violence.
The initiative when approved will see the statue placed in a garden with a balcony for meditation designed by Argentine architect Roberto Kahanov.
Some of the past attempts by the Jerusalem City Hall to commemorate personalities from across the world has, however, encountered strong opposition from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population and it is feared that this initiative may also meet with resistance, the Hebrew daily added.
PTI
