The never-ending story

The Russian Library saga continues: It is now being vacated and moved to the Shukanyon.

By DAVID STROMBERG
After three months of unfulfilled promises from the Jerusalem municipality, the Russian Library's fate is still uncertain. As previously reported by In Jerusalem, the Russian Library has been looking for a new home for almost a year. The Romema building where it is currently located must be vacated by the end of November. Yet no proper premises have been finalized for its relocation. Currently, the proposed location is a space in the Shukanyon on Rehov Agrippas to be vacated by Bank Discount. But no contracts have been signed, and the Finance Committee has not approved the budget. Last week, Roxana Petlarskaya, head of Jerusalem's Library Department, gave the order to begin packing the library's over 100,000 books on the morning of Sunday, November 2. With the director of the Russian Library, Clara Elbert, currently in Moscow, the library's staff had no choice but to allow the packers into the building. Representatives of the Forum for the Survival of the Russian Library, consulted by the Shatil organization, began calling activists and government officials involved in the fight to find the library a proper location. They eventually reached MK David Rotem (Israel Beteinu), who immediately called outgoing Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski. The mayor gave an order to stop packing up the library. Meanwhile, the packing had already begun at 10 a.m., and the mayor's order wasn't passed down the correct channels. Forum representatives communicated the mayor's decision to the library department, which only implemented it at 2 p.m. Most of the first floor - nearly one-third of the library - had been put into boxes. At the same time on Sunday, Ilana Litvak, a consultant with Shatil's Russian Project, was working to obtain a permit for a street demonstration in support of the library, which was to take place on Monday at 5 p.m. She waited several hours before having a chance to speak to Arie Katan, head of Jerusalem's Culture Department. "He said there would be no demonstration because the library wasn't closing," says Litvak. "I explained to him that we would decide whether there would be a demonstration or not." Katan then reportedly offered to grant the permit symbolically if Shatil promised not to hold the demonstration. She pointed out that without a permit, the police would be called in and then the media, possibly giving the demonstration even more attention. "I waited another five hours at their offices," says Litvak. "They finally gave us the permit." A municipal spokesman responded that the municipality had no intention of closing the library. "The decision has been made to relocate the library to the Shukanyon and to reopen it on January 1, 2009, pending the approval of the Finance Committee, which will meet on Wednesday, November 4. With this approval, the contract will be signed and renovations will begin according to the needs of the library. The premises has an area of 400 square meters on a single floor, and fulfills the requirements of the Russian Library. In order to prepare for the relocation, the library has begun to be packed. It will be closed from this week until it reopens at the Shukanyon," the spokesman said.