The much-debated mosque is set to open near the Ground Zero, the site of WTC towers which were downed by Al-Qaeda, after it received green signal on Tuesday from a city panel which voted 9-0 in favour of the 'controversial' construction.

9/11 mosque project clears major hurdle

The debate and controversy about a building a mosque on the Ground Zero site has been raging in the US for several months dividing New Yorkers, families of the victims of 9/11, civil society organisations and politicians.

Last week, leading Jewish organisation in the US, the Anti-Defamation League, came out strongly against the construction of a mosque and Islamic centre near the site where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed on 9/11.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission, the city panel voted 9-0 for the construction to begin. "But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgement, building an Islamic Centre in the shadow of the World Trade Centre will cause some victims more pain unnecessarily and that is not right," the League said in a statement.

At least 3,000 people were killed in September 11, 2001 when two aircrafts were crashed into the WTC twin towers in New York by Al-Qaeda terrorists. Parties that oppose the building a mosque, which will be called Cordoba House, insist this project us inappropriate since the terrorist attacks were carried out by extremist Muslims.

Last month, former Alaskan government joined the fray by speaking out against the mosque. "Twin Towers site is too raw," Palin wrote on twitter. "Peace-seeking Muslim, please understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation," she tweeted. "Please reject it in interest of healing."

In May, however, a New York community board approved the building of a 13-storey mosque and Islamic cultural centre close to the site but the project still faces resistance from some groups. The plan is being pushed by a Kuwaiti-born imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf and will cost USD 100 million.

"My colleagues and I are the anti-terrorists. We are the people who want to embolden the vast majority of Muslims who hate terrorism to stand up to the radical rhetoric. Our purpose is to interweave America's Muslim population into the mainstream society," Imam Rauf wrote in the New York Daily News in May. But not everyone is convinced.

After the commission voted, several members of the audience shouted "Shame on you!" and "Disgrace!" The New York Times reported. One woman carried a sign reading, "Don't Glorify Murders of 3,000; No 9/11 Victory Mosque."

On Tuesday, Rick A Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor, appeared at the vote, in an auditorium at Pace University near City Hall, to oppose the project, according to The Times. Lazio called for an investigation into the finances of the group spearheading the project, the Cordoba Initiative.

"Let's have transparency," Lazio said. "If they're foreign governments, we ought to know about it. If they're radical organisations, we ought to know about it." He added, "This is not about religion. It's about this particular mosque."

On the other hand, the decision also has its set of supporters. "To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, standing with religious leaders in front of the Statue of Liberty, following today's voting. Bloomberg has been supporting the project since it was first proposed several months ago.

"I think it's fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming," he said in May. "And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it, too."

The Islamic center will have a swimming pool, basketball court, meeting rooms, a 500-seat auditorium, banquet facilities, theatrical programming, art exhibitions and cooking classes.

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