The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday appealed to the US administration and international community, mainly UNESCO, to exert pressure on Israel to halt the construction of a cable car project in occupied East Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian opponents of an Israeli plan to run a cable car over Jerusalem to the walls of the Old City lost their Supreme Court case against a project they argued would alter its ancient landscape.
A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel disseminated by the Justice Ministry showed the court had decided against intervening to reverse the Israeli government's 2019 approval of the plan, saying proper planning procedures had been followed.
In response, the Palestinian ministry said: “The cable car project is an integral part of Israel’s campaign to Judaize Jerusalem with a view to eroding its Palestinian, Islamic and Christian identity.”
In a statement, it added that the court decision is also part of the Israel’s campaigns to change the existing historical, legal and demographic character of Jerusalem.
On Sunday, lawyer Sami Arsheed told the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Jerusalem that the Supreme Court surprisingly rejected the petitions against the car cable project, and instead, gave the green light to start its implementation despite the objections.
The project involves the construction of a long cable car line from the First Station complex at the end of Emek Refaim Street, passing over Hinnom Valley to the Kedem compound in Silwan.
The Foreign Ministry said the Israeli court’s decision is further evidence that the judicial and court system in the occupying country is part of the occupation itself.
It accused Israel of working to serve its Judaization colonial schemes.
“This is conclusive evidence that Israeli officials lie when claiming their keenness not to change the status quo in Jerusalem and its old city and holy sites,” the Ministry added.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, as capital of a future state. Israel annexed the area after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war and says the entire city is its eternal and indivisible capital.
