Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz has reported that award-winning architect Frank Gehry is withdrawing from the Museum of Tolerance and Human Dignity project in Jerusalem.

The scheme aims to promote tolerance amongst Jewish populations within Israel, including Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Ethiopians, Russians, and others, and is being sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation, a Jewish human rights organisation. It has attracted controversy because it is being erected on the grounds of an old Muslim cemetery in Mamilla, although other architects working on the project say Gehry's resignation was not related to the protests. All the graves have been removed from the site, with hundreds of skeletons reburied at the outskirts of the construction area.

The Wiesenthal Center says the museum is being built on a former car park that wasn't used as a cemetery, and that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has permitted construction over graveyards in the past. The Center is now seeking an architect to replace Gehry on the planning team, which was composed of Gehry and Kolker, Kolker, Epstein Architects. Gehry resigned shortly after rejecting a request by the centre to reduce the scope of the plan, the cost of which has been estimated at US$250m (£153m, euro 174m). Kolker, Kolker, Epstein said Gehry withdrew due to planning and financial disagreements.

One of the world's leading architects, Gehry has designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Dancing House in Prague. Pic: The museum in Jerusalem will join the existing Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles