Controversial Mosque Near Ground Zero Would Include 9/11 Memorial, Backer Says

On the eve of New York City's expected approval of a mosque and Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero, backers of the project are pledging to include a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as part of an effort to allay opponents' complaints that the mosque's location is insensitive.

"We've heard and felt their pain, and we're extending ourselves," Daisy Khan, a partner in the building and the wife of the cleric leading the effort, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "We want to repair the breach and be at the front and center to start the healing."

Offering the first glimpse into how the developers of the $100 million project hope to blunt the persistent criticism, Khan said that the board that runs the center will include members of other religions "to protect the interests of the center and to ensure the center has the highest standards of transparency." She also said the developers will explore including an interfaith chapel as part of the final plans.

"The universal values of all religions will be the underpinning of our center," said Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. "It will all happen in an atmosphere of interfaith collaboration."

Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League said Khan's statements on transparency, inclusiveness and healing don't address the central point of his group's opposition: that the location of the center is insensitive to the families of the Sept. 11 victims. "If you want to heal us, don't do it in our cemetery," he said. "We are joining in with families who are not saying don't do it at all, but saying don't do it here."

Opposition to the project, now called Park51, began in earnest with some families of the victims of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center expressing outrage over what they understood to be a mosque at Ground Zero. The momentum grew, despite repeated votes from the local community board in support of the center, and has become a national political issue. Khan rejected accusations from some opponents that her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, has refused to condemn Hamas as a terrorist group.

"Hamas commits atrocious acts of terror," she said. "Imam has outright condemned all forms of terrorism."

With the city Landmarks and Preservation Commission set Tuesday to greenlight the project at Park Place and Broadway, Khan said that none of the money has been raised yet for the center. She wouldn't rule out accepting foreign funding, but said the group would be careful about who it took money from.