ARNOLD STRESSES TOLERANCE ON TRIP GOVERNOR MEETS SHARON, OTHER ISRAELI LEADERS.

Byline: Erik N. Nelson Special to the Daily News

JERUSALEM - On a day when the Middle East's divisions were painfully evident, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told Israelis that he hoped the spirit of tolerance would spring from the site of a new museum here, built by members and donors of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The son of an Austrian Nazi Party member, Schwarzenegger said he was helping fulfill his desire to atone for the World War II-era atrocities committed by his fellow Austrians.

Wiesenthal Center researchers have checked his father's past, but found no evidence that he was involved in any such atrocities.

``I was born in Austria, which is a beautiful country and I love it. But it is a place where intolerance and ignorance led to terrible atrocities,'' the Hollywood star-turned-politician said. ``Because of that, I want to do whatever I can to promote tolerance around the world.''

Just as the dedication ceremony was getting under way, news of a new atrocity filtered into Jerusalem's Independence Park: A pregnant mother and her four daughters driving from their home in a Gaza Strip Jewish settlement had been shot to death by Palestinian militants.

Schwarzenegger said he hoped that the lessons taught in the $200 million museum's classrooms, theater, conference halls and exhibition areas will help guide its visitors to ``look past the suicide bombers, the terrorists, the blood'' to a time ``when people can live side-by-side.''

Following criticism that he was snubbing Palestinians during his first trip abroad as governor, Schwarzenegger told reporters on Saturday that he planned a side trip to Jordan - like Israel and its occupied territories, heavily populated with Palestinians - to pay a visit to his friend, King Abdullah II.

While Schwarzenegger made little mention of Palestinians, others at the dedication took sharp aim at Palestinian and Islamic terrorism as examples of intolerance.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom spoke of the ``mother and her four children who were murdered by those terrorist Palestinians'' and said he hoped the spirit of tolerance that the museum will teach ``will hopefully build a future which these enemies of our freedom will no longer threaten.''

The dedication was the impetus for Schwarzenegger's first trip abroad as governor after being elected in November.

He followed the dedication of the museum project with a visit to Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, where he laid a wreath and lit the center's memorial flame in honor of the 6 million Jews killed in the 1940s by the Nazis.

On Sunday, Schwarzenegger also met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Shalom briefly on a day when much of the government was wrapped up in a referendum among Sharon's fellow Likud Party members, who later in the day rejected the prime minister's plan to evacuate settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the occupied West Bank.

Saturday's business event, during which the governor announced Israeli business partnerships with security and energy technology firms based in Northern California, was by comparison a cheerful - even comical - affair.

Noting that he and Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shared some linguistic traits, the governor told Olmert, ``I like the way you pronounce Kah-lee-forn-ya.''

Schwarzenegger's heritage certainly didn't dull Israelis' enthusiasm for the Hollywood icon's visit. At a meeting Saturday night to promote business ties between California and Israel, state troopers guarding the governor became edgy after he was mobbed by Israeli and international media.

``We've got to get him out of there,'' one of the governor's handlers ordered as a press aide spread her arms and tried in vain to hold back the surging mass of reporters.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger enthusiastically waves to crowds as he mingles with members of a Jewish youth choir during his visit to Jerusalem on Sunday.

Kevin Frayer/Associated Press