Ynet

By Reuters

Lithuania said on Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the Jewish community over the site of a former Jewish cemetery in the middle of the capital.

Lithuania has been criticized by Jewish organizations and US Congressmen for allowing construction in the area, which was used as a Jewish cemetery until it was closed in the 19th century. Jews had said it was still sacred ground.

"Today we have put a final full stop to the Snipiskes cemetery story...The solution is also acceptable to the Jewish (side)," Deividas Matulionis, the chancellor of the government, told journalists.

Simonas Gurevicius, executive director of the Lithuanian Jewish community, told Reuters, "Our main goal was to achieve that the remains of those buried would not be disturbed, and the site would be preserved."

The government agreed to mark a part of the area as the former Jewish cemetery and no soil digging would be allowed there, Gurevicius said.