WASHINGTON – You might think a plan to build a cable-car system in the Israeli capital city of Jerusalem to increase tourism wouldn’t be politically explosive.
But you would be wrong.
The idea, proposed by Mayor Nir Barkat, is raising inflammatory rhetorical objections from Muslim Palestinian leaders who say it will “Judaize” the city, and lead eventually to a plan for a Tel Aviv to Mecca stop.
According to the plan by the Jerusalem Municipality, the cable car will include four main stops; one in western Jerusalem, the second in Kedem center, the third in Silwan and the fourth near the Al-Jadeed (Lions’) gate.
Sheikh Najeh Bkerat, the head of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Manuscripts and Heritage Department, warned the Israeli plan aims to consolidate Israel’s grip on the holy city.
“After surrounding Jerusalem with Israeli settlements and conducting excavations underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel now seeking control of the city’s sky,” he said.
Israel fought ferocious and costly battles in the 1967 war to win East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. In 1980, it annexed the city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the Jewish state.
The Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem blasted plans to construct a cable-car system above the capital to bring visitors to the Western Wall in the Old City, calling the proposal “dangerous.”
Barkat is pushing the plan, which is intended to alleviate pressure on existing transportation infrastructure to the Old City, as well as serve as a tourist attraction, giving riders a bird’s eye view of the city.
“The cable car will enable people to reach the Old City without a car or a bus,” said Barkat. “What you see today is not the way Jerusalem will look in the future. Tomorrow I want to bring 10 million tourists to these places, but without an infrastructure of trains, cable cars, a fast train (to Tel Aviv), hotels, etc., we will not be able to enjoy this unique experience. In order to bring people from around the world, in order to understand who the real boss is in this city, we need to create infrastructure.”
The head of the Supreme Muslim Council, Sheikh Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, spoke to the Arabic Al-Quds newspaper, claiming the planned cable car was part of a larger effort to cement the city’s Jewish character, and constituted an assault on the Islamic Waqf. He added that the project would desecrate Muslim cemeteries in the area.
Sabri, who has a long history of making provocative and anti-Semitic statements, has in the past denied that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and has cited the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion to justify his views. Sabri dubbed the cable-car plan “illegal” and demanded it be abandoned immediately.
“This project is one of those plans intended to impose a Jewish character on the occupied city of Al-Quds and obliterate its landmarks,” said Sabri.
Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction also condemned the planned project, warning that the “Palestinian people will never” permit the completion of the cable-car system.
A representative of the faction in Jerusalem, Rafat Alayan, added that if Israel did complete the cable-car project, the Jewish state would then seek to build a project linking Tel Aviv to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/muslims-horrified-at-jerusalem-cable-car-plan/
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