Trump station part of subway plan
ISRAEL: Israel’s transport minister is pushing ahead with controversial plans to build a high-speed train network under Jerusalem’s Old City, and has declared that its main station will be named after United States President Donald Trump.
Yisrael Katz’s proposal would involve digging two underground stations and excavating more than three kilometres of tunnel, ending up at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.
The project would extend a soon-to-be-opened multibilliondollar high-speed rail line from Israel’s commercial centre, Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem and help ferry around 11 million tourists and worshippers a year to the wall.
The route will run close to – but not directly under – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition holds that Jesus was buried, and a contested holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
The same area is also home to the al-aqsa Mosque, one of the oldest in Islam. Palestinians fear that the subway work could see the structure compromised. Similar excavations by Israel have sparked violent Palestinian protests in the past.
The project is estimated to cost US$700 million (Nz$xm) and, if approved, would take four years to complete.
Katz’s office said the minister advanced the plan during a recent meeting with Israeli railway executives and declared it a national priority, meaning construction of the line would be expedited and started within the next year.
Katz proposed naming the station after the US president as thanks ‘‘for his brave and historic decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital’’ earlier this month.
Trump gave the Israeli claim to Jerusalem a major boost after declaring that the US would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city. The announcement sparked protests across the Muslim world, as Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of any future state. At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.
The United Nations last week rejected Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reaffirming that the city’s status should be negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians.
Ikrema Sabri, a senior Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, denounced the planned train line extension, saying that Palestinians would not accept ‘‘any change or act in the occupied territories’’.
He said that ‘‘giving the name of Trump to this project will not give it any legitimacy. It would be just another implementation of the unacceptable decision of President Trump to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel’’.
The plan will see trains travelling through a 3.6km tunnel about 60 metres underground to reach inside the Old City’s walls.
Trump Station will be built in the city’s Jewish Quarter. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonot reported that there will be an additional station along the way, in the western part of Jerusalem, and that the train will feature a VIP car to transport visiting dignitaries directly from the airport to the Western Wall.
Katz, a senior cabinet official who also serves as Israel’s intelligence minister, is a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is seen as his likely successor as head of the Likud party.
Known in Israeli politics as ‘‘the bulldozer,’’ Katz has succeeded in advancing numerous large infrastructure projects nationwide. However, as with many building projects in the holy city, excavation of the train tunnel is likely to be greatly impeded by the discovery of any archaeological sites or ancient graves.
– Telegraph Group, Washington Post