Housing cabinet to discuss approval of Old City cable car amid protests
An attorney stressed that the public will see the approval of the project as an "exercise in public relations...in a time of political distress."
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF An illustration of the planned Jerusalem cable car(photo credit: JERUSALEM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY)
The housing cabinet of the outgoing government will discuss approving a planned cable car system leading to the Old City as activists protest the decision being discussed under a transitional government.Attorney Itay Mack, who spoke on behalf of "coalition for the protection of the Old City basin," demanded that the attorney general remove the cable car project from the housing cabinet's agenda, saying "There isn’t a shadow of doubt that, considering the inability of the transitional prime minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new government, the justifications have become clear as to why a discussion should not be held and why the transitional government should not make a decision regarding the cable car plan, as ruled by the High Court of Justice 8815/05 Attorney Abraham Landstein v. Attorney Meir Speigler."Mack stressed that the public will see the approval of the project as an "exercise in public relations...in a time of political distress," adding that it was "absurd" that the government was discussing such an idea when it is having difficulty approving additional budget, even for security.The NIS 200 million project, advanced by the Tourism Ministry and the Jerusalem Development Authority, will see a 1.5 km.-long cable car route stretching from Jerusalem’s First Station complex to a station near the Old City’s Dung Gate, close to the entrance to the Western Wall plaza, via Mount Zion.The planned cable car, traveling at 21 kilometers per hour, will be capable of carrying 3,000 passengers in each direction every hour. In total, 73 carriages will be used to ferry passengers across Hinnom Valley."Throughout the process, the project has been advanced in a manner resorting to concealing information or revealing only half-truths and in a continued attempt to silence professionals and the public opposed to it," said NGO Emek Shaveh in a press statement. "At this time, the government is working to quietly approve the project, far from the public eye, even though it does not have a mandate to do so."Emek Shaveh works to "defend cultural heritage rights and to protect ancient sites as public assets that belong to members of all communities, faiths and peoples," according to their website.In July, the NGO claimed that the cable car plan does not "constitute an essential public necessity" and that its approval can be delayed a couple of months - with special consideration being given to the recent ministerial budget cuts, due to the government superseding their original debt allowance."The public objection submitted by Emek Shaveh, signed by public intellectuals and experts, and hundreds of citizens, focused on the deleterious impact to the landscape of the Old City, the cable car’s anticipated negative effect on the residents of Silwan, and the claim that the cable car will not solve the problem of transportation to the Old City," said the NGO."In addition to the highly deleterious impact on the landscape of the Ben Hinnom Valley and the view of the Old City walls, the highly pertinent fact of the project’s political objectives – strengthening the Elad Foundation in Silwan and the plans of the Israeli government and the settler organizations in east Jerusalem – cannot be ignored."Eytan Halon and Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.
