Monday, October 18, 2004 Jerusalem
cemetery workers may have dumped waste in graves
By Jonathan Lis Haaretz Correspondent SOME 200
[non-Jews']
graves in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem are
suspected to have been violated in the past few
weeks by employees of the site's sanitation
company, who filled them with piles of garbage.
The Jerusalem police suspect that contractor
Ezra Aslan, who is in charge of the cemetery's
sanitation, had hoped to save on waste transport
expenses, and instructed to have the waste buried
inside graves instead. A sanitation worker who
worked for Aslan led police detectives to 30
graves where he had buried garbage. Because of
Aslan's expertise the graves were sealed over,
so that the act would remain undetected. The police, who decided not to open up the
graves they were shown, noted that a few
gravestones had not been re-set, and piles of
rubbish were peeking out from the ground below. Asland denied having instructed his workers to
hide the garge on the gate at a hearing at the
Jerusalem's Magistrate's Court on Sunday to extend
his remand. Police launched the investigation when two
pistols were discovered in one of the graves. Aslan
said he had intended to hand in the guns he found,
via his business partner, who works as a security
officer in the Shin-Bet, upon his partner's return
to Israel from an overseas trip. The police are charging Aslan with illegal
possession of firearms, and violation of a
cemetery. Magistrate Court Judge Eilata
Ziskind extended the suspect's remand by five
days. -
Origins
of anti-Semitism
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