Lithuania 'hurt' by U.S. resolution

VILNIUS - ALithuanian foreign ministry spokesman has said that the country was "hurt" by aU.S. House of Representatives resolution condemning the country over itsfailure to halt construction on a Jewish cemetery near Vilnius.

The House passed a resolution on Oct. 2 criticizing theLithuanian government for failing to address the controversial issue. Almostall members of the House of Representative voted in favor of the resolution.

"We've repeatedly asked the Lithuanians to stop construction until the cemetery's boundary disputes could beresolved... yet at every turn, the Lithuanian government has failed to be responsive and protect this sacred ground. It's myhope that this resolution will shine much-needed light on the Lithuanian government's failure to actand ultimately motivate them to do the right thing," Mike Ferguson, author ofthe resolution, was quoted as saying in the New Jersey Jewish News portal onThursday.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said that the resolution did not accuratelyreflect the situation.

"We are hurt by the resolution passed in the U.S. House of Representatives,which was initiated a year back and which fails to take into consideration thatthe Lithuanian government hasgiven considerable attention to issues of enshrining cultural heritage inSnipiskes, all the while closely cooperating with Jewish experts. The formerSnipiskes Jewish cemetery has been granted status of cultural heritage of the Republic of Lithuania,and with it the corresponding legal protection," said Violeta Gaizauskaite,Director of the Foreign Ministry's Information and Public Relations Department.

"We would see this type of a resolution by the U.S. House of Representativesas not reflecting the actual situation," she said.

Under agreement struck between Lithuanian and Israeli experts, an archeological dig was to set to determine the extent ofthe cemetery and whether construction had taken place over Jewish remains.Jewish representatives, however, requested to have the dig put to a halt due todiscovery of human remains some 30 centimeters below ground.

The research was expected to reveal whether a luxurious apartment buildingon the bank of Lithuania's second largestriver, the Neris, was built in the location of a former Jewish cemetery.

The said cemetery had been open in the center of Vilnius since the 16th century, was closed inthe 19th century and dismantled in mid-20th century.