Tourism venture seen as land grab
American officials looked on yesterday as Israel opened a newfound Roman-era street at a divisive archaeological site in east Jerusalem, a move that deepened Palestinian animosity toward the White House’s mediation efforts.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended the event along with three other visiting American ambassadors as well as President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
The City of David Foundation unveiled what it called ‘‘the pilgrimage road,’’ a 2000-year-old main thoroughfare from Romanera Jerusalem that it says served visitors to the ancient Jewish Temple. The multi-year project to excavate beneath the mostly Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan cost over US$100 million (NZ$149m), with donors including Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch, Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Adelson attended the event, as did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.
Visitors will be able to ‘‘touch history’’ by walking in the footsteps of ancient pilgrims through a 350m stretch of tunnel along the ancient street that ran uphill to the Jewish temple, the City of David Foundation said.
But the presence of the American officials sparked new accusations that the US is helping Israel ‘‘Judaise’’ east Jerusalem. The Palestinians severed ties with the White House after Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognised. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.
The competing claims to east Jerusalem lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are a frequent flashpoint of violence.
Palestinian neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem also suffer from prolonged poverty and neglect, adding to the tensions.
The City of David Foundation’s excavations, located on the steep slope beneath the contested site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, are part of a popular archaeological and tourist site the group runs in Silwan.
The site contains some of the oldest remains of the 3000-yearold city, what many believe to be the centrepiece of ancient Jewish civilisation.
Some even claim it is linked to the Bible’s King David.
But critics accuse the site’s operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda at the expense of local Palestinian residents.
The project’s parent group, Elad, helps settle Jewish families in Arab neighbourhoods, raising suspicions that its tourism projects aim to erase the line between east and west Jerusalem. The Palestinians view the excavations as part of Israeli efforts to dominate the contested city.