By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Governor David Paterson is suggesting everyone keep quiet this week about the controversial plan to build a mosque and community center near Ground Zero, the Daily News reported.
The governor suggested New Yorkers honor the intersection of Jewish and Muslim holidays this week, as well as the anniversary of September 11 on Saturday by taking break from the Ground Zero mosque hysteria, the News reported.
“The greater issue involving this situation is how can we bring New York's people back together and I propose that perhaps in light of the fact that Rosh Hashanah is this week, the Jewish New Year, that the celebration of Ramadan is coming at the end of the week and that we should all be focused on our concern to those who lost relatives [on] Sept. 11,” Paterson said.
“Perhaps we might think more in terms of supporting those families who are on both sides of this issue as all of us are and maybe all step back and try to devote a week of peace.”
The governor offered to get us all started by not answering questions on the issue for a week “just to see if this exercise would help New Yorkers and Americans remember that the terrorists didn't care who we were when they attacked us," the News reported.
"We should think a lot about the fact that in many ways, we were all victims," he added.
The governor is not alone in his stance.
Many relatives of New Yorkers who died in the World Trade Center believe the ninth anniversary of 9/11 is the wrong day to hold rallies about the proposed mosque and community center.
The group Stop Islamization of America is planning a massive rally near Ground Zero for the afternoon of Sept. 11, and those who support the project plan to hold a counter-protest.
Winuk and David Paine, co-founders of My Good Deed, an organization that promotes volunteerism on the anniversary of 9/11, sent a letter to both sides last week, asking them not to rally. The letter was signed by about a dozen family members, including representatives of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center and September 11 Families Association.
The anti-mosque group plans to go ahead with it's protest.
Another group of 9/11 family members, including retired FDNY Chief Jim Riches, whose firefighter son was killed on 9/11, said in a statement that they feel a “moral obligation” to fight the Park51 project on the anniversary.
