Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuits Against Jerusalem’s Old City Cable Car Plan

Israel’s Supreme Court has rejected four petitions that object to a plan to build a controversial cable-car system to bring people to and from the Old City of Jerusalem. The lawsuits were filed by Palestinian residents of eastern Jerusalem, environmentalists, and scholars. The 1.4-kilometer-long cable line will run from the First Station shopping and entertainment complex in western Jerusalem to the Old City’s Dung Gate, near the Western Wall, over the Hinnom Valley and will require the construction of five large pylons. It will carry up to 3,000 visitors per hour. The Tourism Ministry views the project, which was approved by the National Infrastructure Committee,  as an important tourist attraction, a view which swayed the three-judge panel at the court to its unanimous decision, as well as the fact that it is a valid transportation project.