When the Crusaders occupied Jerusalem, they committed a heinous massacre, where they killed large numbers of children, women and men, they were buried in the cemetery and when Sultan Saladin liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he ordered the burial of those who were martyred in battles with the Crusaders in the cemetery itself, which includes the remains of a large number of scientists, jurists, writers, notables and rulers, the burial has continued in it until 1927

After the Nakba, the Israeli occupation authorities subjected it to the disposal of the so-called custodian of absentee property, where he gradually destroyed it, and only 5% of its graves remained . After the 1967 war, the Israeli occupation authorities bulldozed a large part of it and turned it into a public park .in 1985, a parking lot was built on another part of it. in 1997, some graves were exhumed under the pretext of extending sewage lines to pass through the cemetery. in 2008, the Supreme Court of the occupation approved the construction of the so-called Museum of tolerance" on part of what is left of it.

In 2010, the "Al-Aqsa Foundation for the reconstruction of Islamic holy sites" implemented a restoration and maintenance project for the cemetery, during which (934) graves were restored and the waste dumped by the occupation municipality in the cemetery was removed, then the occupation stopped the restoration work, and the occupation municipality and the so-called Israel Lands Department began demolishing more than (300) graves in the cemetery.