Suspension Bridge,Expropriations for Jerusalem Cable Car and West bank Developments
* Suspension Bridge over Hinnom Valley Opened to the Public • Expropriations for Jerusalem Cable Car Approved • SOA Conducts Enforcement Activities at Tel Aroma in Area B • Red Heifers at Tel Shiloh • University led Excavation Resumes in West Bank
Suspension Bridge over Hinnom Valley Opened to the Public
Last week Sunday, July 30th, the suspension bridge over the Hinnom Valley opened to the public. At a cost of 20 million NIS, the 200-meter bridge is one of the multiple projects in the Hinnom Valley area advanced by the authorities in collaboration with the Elad Foundation, a private settlers organization who run the “City of David” archaeological park.
The project was funded by the Ministry of Jerusalem, Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Municipality in collaboration with the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) and the Moriah Company. The ceremony was attended by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Meir Porush and head of the Elad Foundation David Be’eri, an indication of Elad’s central involvement in the project. At the ceremony Leon said “this bridge will be suspended from here to eternity. This is the fate of the bridge that millions of tourists will walk on when they come to the capital city.”
Left to Right: Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Meir Porush, Executive Director of the Elad Foundation David Be’eri and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon at the bridge opening ceremony last week. Photo taken from Nir Hasson’s tweet who used a photo taken by Deputy Mayor Aryeh King.
The bridge is 202 meters (the promotion material calls it “the longest pedestrian bridge in the country”) and links from an Elad café and cultural center built in the Palestinian area of Abu Tor/a Thuri to Mount Zion across the Hinnom Valley.
The bridge is part of a series of projects which are creating large settler strongholds in Palestinian space aimed at linking West Jerusalem to the southwest and southeast of the
Historic Basin through a continuum of Judeo-centric attractions. It joins “the farm in the valley“, an educational farm established by Elad in the Hinnom Valley on land that has been cultivated by Palestinian families of Silwan and Abu Tor/A Thuri for generations. Other projects in the area include the cable car (more below) greenlighted last year by the High Court of Justice following multiple petitions, a 16,000 sqm visitors’ center (the Kedem Center) across from Dung Gate and at the entrance to the neighborhood of Silwan, a new visitors’ center on the Armon Hanatziv promenade in the Peace Forest near Jabel Mukkaber, camping grounds in the Peace Forest near Abu Tor and a zip-line (dubbed the longest in the Middle East), soon to be opened to the public. All of these are part of a strategy to develop a network of attractions characterized by biblical or Second Temple themes that will serve to reroute tourism into the Old City through Elad’s attractions and reshape the visitors’ experience of historic Jerusalem from one which reflects a multiplicity of historical periods, faiths and cultures into one dominated by a single hyper-nationalistic version of a Jewish narrative. In the process, this strategy aims to displace the Palestinians from their homes, shrink their public spaces and downplay their heritage.
Background:
In 2018, Emek Shaveh and Peace Now filed an objection to the plan with the Jerusalem District Planning Committee after it had been approved by the local planning committee. We objected to the fact that a facility with significant political implications and an impact on the historic skyline was approved through a simple building permit process, thereby evading public scrutiny or debate. We argued at the time that “the proposed bridge is located in one of the most sensitive and significant areas in Jerusalem, one of the most important cities in the world…Construction and development in this area should be done in a careful and considered manner, following a meaningful public discussion and in the context of a true planning vision.” The district committee, however, accepted the Municipality’s and the JDA’s explanation that the footbridge is a pathway and allowed according to city plan no. AM/9.
Cable Car Expropriations Approved
On July 23rd the expropriation committee at the Jerusalem Municipality approved the expropriation of roughly 10,000 square meters for the Jerusalem cable car.
The cable car project was greenlighted by the High Court in May 2022, despite local and international outcry at the irreparable damage to and disneyfication of Jerusalem’s ancient city skyline and hundreds of objections by Israeli conservationists, environmentalists, planners and architects. The cable car, designed to link West Jerusalem to the settler-controlled City of David site in Silwan was advanced in a highly irregular process through the National Infrastructure Committee which significantly limits public scrutiny and professional oversight. Four petitions were submitted to the High Court of Justice (including one by Emek Shaveh) all of which were rejected following a series of hearings.
The expropriations last month under the Cable Car plan (#86) include plots within the densely populated neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh in Silwan, which, according to the organization Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights), suggest some of the foundations for the massive pillars for the cable car will be situated under the foundations of existing Palestinian homes. The precise locations of the pillars are yet to be determined and at least some of the expropriations are considered temporary for the purpose of determining the precise locations.
The expropriations were approved after most of the objection clauses submitted by Bimkom together with residents of Silwan who will be impacted by the cable car were rejected apart from the duration of expropriations which is now shorter following the objection. According to the plan, once the exact locations of the pillars will be determined, some of the expropriation orders will be cancelled.
Map of expropriations for plan #86
Background
The cable car plan was approved by the Israeli government in 2018 and drew strong public opposition from the outset. Once built, the cable car will be suspended from cables held by 15 massive eight-story-high columns along its route, and travel from the First Station complex in West Jerusalem through Mt. Zion (over the Valley of Hinnom), over homes in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan to the Kedem Compound, a large visitor’s center which the Elad Foundation plans to build across the street from Dung Gate, which will also include the final cable car station.
The controversial plan was promoted by the Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) and advanced through the National Infrastructure Committee (NIC), a process which largely circumvents public objection, in contrast to standard planning procedures. Seventy Israeli public intellectuals, archaeologists, and architects signed a public statement against the plan, and 27 internationally renowned architects had sent a letter to the Israeli government calling it to halt the project that will dramatically alter the Old City Basin, which constitutes a heritage asset for all of humanity.
Emek Shaveh and a group of organizations opposing the cable car formed the “Coalition for the Preservation of the Historic Basin”. The residents of Silwan, Emek Shaveh, Adam Teva V’Din (Environmental organization), the Jewish Karaite Community petitioned against the plan, but in May 2022 the High Court rejected the petitions.
Enforcement in Tel Aroma/Jabel al-Orma (area B)
On July 24th, it was reported that the Civil Administration’s Staff Officer for Archaeology (SOA) began enforcement activities at Tel Aroma/Jabel al-Orma in the West Bank which is in Area B. Under the Oslo Accords, archaeological oversight in areas B and A fall under the auspices of the Palestinian DACH (Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage).
The move came a week after the government approved 120 million NIS for “a national emergency plan” for antiquities in “Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley”. In our alert about the plan we noted that it does not make a distinction between areas A, B and C. This development also follows a statement by Minister within the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he is working on a plan to allow Israel to demolish buildings in areas A and B.
This is not the first time that Israel demolishes structures in Area B not for security purposes. In January 2023 it was reported that the Civil Administration had destroyed two structures at Khirbet Tarfin, an archaeological site in Area B, claiming the structures caused serious damage to the archaeological site. The Civil Administration claimed that the action did not violate the Oslo Accords even though the issue at hand was not related to security.
Tel Aroma. Photo credit: Oren Ziv and Local Call
Background:
Tel Aroma/Jabel al-Orma near Nablus in area B is an ancient fortress from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Some archaeologists and settlers identify the place with Hasmonean rule (the site was surveyed but never excavated). In February 2020 a Palestinian flag was raised at the site which prompted a settlers’ campaign against the Palestinians accusing them of damaging the site (and the Jewish heritage embodied within). As part of the campaign various groups such as the “Guardians of Eternity” and the Samaria Regional Council organized a tour to the site which they titled “liberating Tel Aroma”. The visit was accompanied by clashes with the local residents and ended with a death of 15 years old Palestinian boy.
Red Heifers at Tel Shiloh
Last week, Ir Amim published the results of its extensive research into government involvement in acquiring red heifers for ritual sacrifice. The quest for the red heifer is a joint project of the temple movements and an American Evangelical group and until now considered a niche operation on the fringes of the messianic Right. The discovery of government involvement in facilitating the bringing of the cows into Israel and cooperation with the temple groups who are promoting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif is highly disturbing and raises serious concerns about the implications for the status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. For the full Ir Amim report see here.
An aspect of this story which we would like to draw attention to is the intention to house the red heifers at a new farm and visitors’ centre at the archaeological tourist site of Tel Shiloh in the West Bank.
Tel Shiloh or Khirbet Seilun as it is called in Arabic, is an important archaeological site between Ramallah and Nablus which contains remains of human settlements beginning with the Middle Bronze Age. The tourist site which has been incorporated into the settlement of Shiloh is partly located on private lands of the Palestinian village of Qaryut. Like the City of David in Jerusalem, Tel Shiloh has also been handed over by the authorities to the management of a private organization which in the case of Tel Shiloh is called the “Mishkan Shiloh Association”.
Emek Shaveh and Yesh Din had petitioned twice against the site: once in cooperation with the villagers of Qaryut regarding the fact that they no longer had access to their lands, and once against the decision to place an important archaeological site in the hands of a private settlers organization. For the more details on the petitions see here and here.