Despite opposition from Palestinian leaders who say that a 12th-century Muslim cemetery is located underneath the site, the Israeli interior ministry has authorized construction to begin on the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.

A new design by Chyutin Architects will cost $150 million less than the original Frank Gehry plan and was approved by the city of Jerusalem last month before receiving the official building permit from the interior ministry on Tuesday, the Jerusalem Post reports. The interior ministry, which got involved because of the controversy surrounding the choice of the site, said in a statement that "the project presents architecture that is modest and thoughtful, and contributes to the creation of a public space that is fitting for the area on a local and urban level."

For Arab activists, however, there is nothing fitting about the project. They challenged its legality, but the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government in 2008, ordering excavators to remove unearthed graves and bones to an alternate location along the edge of the site, but outside the area where the museum is to be built, according to the AP. Yitzhak Reiter, an Israeli political scientist, estimated in an interview with Israel Radio that remains from 400 graves have been removed.

Palestinian-American activist Rashid Khalidi said that the construction of the museum violated Muslim religious rites. "As a member of a group of 60 members of families whose ancestors are buried in the Maman Allah (Mamilla) cemetery, we remain firmly opposed to any building in the oldest Islamic cemetery in Jerusalem, as should any persons of good conscience and moral integrity," he wrote in an email last month, according to the Jerusalem Post. "It is nauseating, and especially hypocritical, that this desecration is carried out in the name of 'tolerance' and 'human dignity.'"

Kais Nasser, an attorney with the Muslim Committee, an organization that protects Muslim holy sites, said that the museum's new design should have undergone a full approval process instead of being fast-tracked for approval. But an interior ministry spokesperson told the Post that the museum has already passed two approval processes and that the only way to stop the project at this point would be an injunction from the High Court of Justice, which is highly unlikely.

Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance will include an amphitheater, exhibit halls, classrooms, a stone plaza, and a parking lot. The U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center has already established museums of tolerance in Los Angeles and New York.