Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 15 November 2018
Architects, activists slam Jerusalem Old City cable car plan

By ISABEL DEBRE Israel's National Infrastruc-
Associated Press ture Committee, which
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli fast-tracks transportation
plan to build a cable car to projects of national impor-
Jerusalem's historic Old City tance, has given approval
has united architects and to the project.
Palestinian activists in op- A building permit is to come
position to a project they after a 60-day period of
say is both an eyesore and public review — a step that
a ploy to entrench Israeli developers believe will be
control over the city's con- a formality.
tested eastern sector. In May, Israel allocated
Developers say the pro- some $55 million to the
posed project is meant to project and, barring major
relieve snarling traffic and complications, cars should
will ferry some 3,000 tour- be crisscrossing the valley
ists an hour from the west- by 2021, the Tourism Minis-
ern sector directly to the try said.
Old City, in east Jerusalem. Amir Halevi, the ministry's
It follows a series of Israeli director general, said he
projects in the combustible sympathizes with concerns
city that have enraged the about the sensitivity of the
Palestinians. site but claimed that the
Further complicating mat- In this Sept. 9, 2013 file photo, the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound is rapidly rising tourism rates
ters is the project's asso- seen in Jerusalem's old city. demand a dramatic re-
ciation with the Elad Foun- Associated Press sponse.
dation, a group that has "There is always the ques-
settled Jewish nationalists The Palestinians claim the Old City, passing near sites City walls, and proceed- tion of how to balance de-
in the heart of Jerusalem's eastern sector as capital holy to Jews, Christians and ing through the Palestinian veloping and preserving,"
Arab neighborhoods. The of a future state while Israel Muslims. neighborhood of Silwan he said. "But you cannot
final cable car station will considers the entire city its The proposed line would before alighting at the tour- stop development."
be integrated into a future eternal, undivided capital. end at the Western Wall, ist center. Halevi added that the Min-
tourist center run by the or- The conflicting claims to with a station named after Aber Zayyad, a Palestinian istry mapped the cable car
ganization. east Jerusalem lie at the President Donald Trump, resident of Silwan and di- route carefully to "minimize"
"The cable car will send heart of the Israeli-Pales- who is cheered in Israel for rector of its women's com- the evacuation and demo-
oblivious tourists flying over tinian conflict and have having recognized Jerusa- munity center, said she lition of buildings.
the heads of Palestinians frequently spilled over into lem as its capital. fears the cable car flying He stressed the cable car
and drop them off in the violence. Beyond political opposition, overhead will infringe on would not enter the Old
middle of occupied east In recent years, Israel has the cable car has faced an residents' privacy and that City or go over its walls,
Jerusalem, the eye of the carried out a series of ini- outcry from urban planners its construction may harm but would stop just outside.
storm, the .... center of the tiatives, billed as develop- and architects. houses and a local cem- "We're doing this to prevent
Israeli-Palestinian conflict," ment projects, that have "This project is an outrage, etery. the need to construct more
said Betty Herschman of Ir infuriated the Palestinians. an affront to our historic "Our tombs will likely be invasive things," he said.
Amim, an advocacy group Israel built a light rail train skyline," said Moshe Safdie, damaged, not to mention Urban planning experts dis-
that promotes equality in through both parts of the a renowned architect who our lives," she said. "And agree that the cable cars,
the city. "This cable car is city, abutting the Old City signed a petition against of course it will further at- which hold 10 people per
putting new facts on the and snaking through pre- the plan along with 70 Is- tempts to make Jerusalem carriage, will resolve the
ground that undermine dominantly Arab neighbor- raeli figures from architec- a solely Jewish city." city's daunting transporta-
any possibility for a peace hoods. ture, archaeology and ac- The cable car's destination tion problems.
process." The train is popular with ademia. at the tourist center has Salmah Milson Arad, direc-
Israel captured east Jeru- Arabs and Jews, but it has "This will Disneyfy a sacred sparked concern about the tor of the Jerusalem chap-
salem, along with the lime- also been the target of Pal- place. Imagine a huge project's potential to serve ter of the Association of
stone-walled Old City, in estinian rioters when ten- cable car flying over the settler interests by promot- Architects and Urban Plan-
the 1967 Mideast war and sions rise. Vatican and dumping tour- ing Elad's exclusive Jewish ners, estimated the cable
later annexed it, a move Another proposed plan in- ists in front of St. Peter's. It's narrative of the city. cars will relieve only around
never recognized interna- volves digging a railway unprecedented." "We believe that this is an 30 percent of bus traffic.
tionally. tunnel under Jerusalem's No image says Jerusalem attempt to change the Other critics have ques-
like the postcard view of its character of the city and its tioned whether the mas-
Old City — with its towering face ... its culture and iden- sive undertaking will even
ancient walls, the Western tity," said Adnan Husseini, appeal to customers.
Wall and the glimmering the Palestinian minister of "Israelis come to the (West-
gold-topped Dome of the Jerusalem Affairs. ern) Wall in their cars, the
Rock. Israel's Tourism Ministry de- ultra-Orthodox walk, Arabs
The cable car would run nies any political motiva- won't use this, and it's hard
1,400 meters (nearly one tion. It says the cable car to imagine tourists in mas-
mile), launching from the presents an environmental- sive buses going out of their
First Station, a popular ly friendly solution to the cri- way to get to First Station,"
food and cultural center sis of congestion, accessi- said Giora Solar, architect
in west Jerusalem, sailing bility and parking at a time and former director of con-
over the city's ancient val- of record-breaking tourist servation for Israel's Antiqui-
ley, stopping at Mount Zion, visits. The Old City is Israel's ties Authority. "So who's go-
a hill just outside the Old No. 1 tourist destination. ing to benefit?"q