Saudi’s King Abdullah Linked to Ground Zero Mosque Move
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is in talks to move the Ground Zero mosque to a less controversial site in Manhattan, it has been reported.
New York City attorney Dudley Gaffin, who has ties to the Saudi royal family, has contacted officials with a plan to move the mosque from its site in the damage zone, to the closed St Vincent’s hospital campus two blocks away, US media has reported.
King Abdullah would buy the bankrupt hospital and reopen it, and then establish the proposed Park51 mosque in an adjacent building.
The mosque, part of a planned $140m project to be located near the former World Trade Centre site, has been the source of protests for months.
In an October interview, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed told Arabian Business that he was against the construction of the mosque so close to the site of the 9/11 terror attacks.
“The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can’t say ‘let’s just go back to where we were pre-9/11,'” he said.
“I am against putting the mosque there out of respect for those people who have been wounded over there.”
Joanne Bladd
Arabian Business