Sharp divide over planned mosque near World Trade site

Sharp divisions between those for and against a Muslim community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site seemed to widen Tuesday as the project moved closer to reality.

Families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and other New Yorkers voiced anger and disappointment over the idea of a center so close to where thousands died in the terror attack.

Politicians and religious leaders heralded the decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which gave a boost to the Muslim center at 45 Park Place, as a victory for tolerance and religious freedom.

The 9/11 families, however, say their opposition isn't about religious intolerance but rather the decision to place the center - which would include a mosque and community center - so close to the area where tragedy struck.

"If they had moved the mosque to a different location it would have been a subtle acknowledgment by the Muslim community that the heinous attack by Muslim extremists was wrong," said Carol Ashley of Rockville Centre, whose daughter Janice, 25, perished in the WTC north tower.

Yonkers firefighter Jim McCaffrey, whose Rockville Centre brother-in-law Orio Palmer died at Ground Zero, said he was disappointed in the vote, which denied landmark status to the building, clearing the way for developers to start the permit process.

But Dr. Saud Anwar, of the American Muslim Peace Initiative, said the continuing debate is reverberating poorly in the Muslim world outside the U.S.

"It's giving more power to extremists in all parts of the world," said Anwar, "and it is growing more anti-American sentiment." The rhetoric was detracting from the strength and capacity of those seeking to promote moderation among Muslims, he added.

A City Hall employee worshiping at the Park Place building Tuesday, who asked not to be named, said the proposed community center would finally give Muslims a place to take care of their needs.

Rabbi Leslie Schotz of the Bay Shore Jewish Center said that she supported the proposal to build the community center and mosque, though she hopes it will also serve to heal wounds and tensions exacerbated by the project. "I hope there will be a certain environment created where people can come together," Schotz said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg used Governor's Island, complete with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, to stand with an array of religious leaders to laud the commission's action.

"To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists - and we should not stand for that," Bloomberg said.

With staff writer Bart Jones and Maria Alvarez