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Occupation magazine - Jerusalem

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Israel Plans A New Gate Into Jerusalem Walls
By Saed Bannoura
IMEMC & Agencies
October 06, 2010

http://www.imemc.org/article/59553

Israel is preparing a large plan reportedly meant for renovating sections of the occupied Old City of Jerusalem, including opening a gate in the City’s walls for the first time since 1898.

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the plan was prepared by architect David Shriki and was drawn by architect Gavriel Kertesz.

The plan was presented to the Municipal Planning and Construction Committee and is meant to facilitate access to the Western Wall Plaza.

If finalized and implemented, a tunnel will be dug under all layers of Old Jerusalem.

The planned gate is meant to be the entry of a new tunnel that would be dug starting from Al Mughrabi Gate and would lead to a four-story parking garage that would be constructed under the current parking space close to the Western Wall. The parking structure would be able to hold some 600 vehicles.

Israel claims that the construction will not affect the foundations and the archeological layers of the city.

The year 1898 marked the last time an opening was made into Jerusalem’s ancient city walls. In that year, the Ottoman empire breached the wall in an area near the Jaffa gate in order to allow the passage of the carriage of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, as he visited the city.

The Jerusalem municipality stated that one of the main obstacles of the new plan is its high cost, estimated by millions of dollars.

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the new plan is designed to accommodate thousands of tourists and visitors to the Western Wall but it faces opposition from both Jewish inhabitants of the Jewish Quartet, and Islamic leaders.

Another issue with the plan is that it requires cutting through solid rock, an issue that would cost millions of Israeli shekels.

Haaretz reported that the Planning Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality did not hold a vote on the plan yet as it intends to continue the deliberation next week.

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