06185
March 27, 2006

Cable car planned to improve
access to Jerusalem’s Western Wall  

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM — Pilgrims wishing to visit Israel’s Western Wall may one day be able to do so by cable car to avoid traffic congestion in the narrow streets of Jerusalem’s ancient Old City. 

        The $8 million cable car system could be installed within three years, according to Israeli transport officials, who say it would make a trip to the Western Wall more pleasant for the five million people who visit the shrine every year — who now are often stuck in traffic jams or forced to reach the site on foot.

        “We can’t let the situation remain the way it is,” said transport official Shmuel Elgrably. 

        The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, is revered by Jews as the last remnant of the Second Temple. The giant stone wall dates from the period of Herod, more than 2,000 years ago, when it was built as a retaining wall of Herod’s temple. Jews traditionally pray at the site and tuck notes bearing prayers and wishes into the crevasses between stones.

        During major Jewish festivals, as many as 700,000 worshippers visit the site.  

        The cable-car trip would take about five minutes. It would cross over the Hinnom valley and drop visitors off at the entrance of the Western Wall complex. 

        The project is now the subject of a feasibility study. Jerusalem officials are pressing hard to get it off the ground to resolve the logistical nightmare faced by worshippers and tourists seeking to access the site.

        Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox mayor, Uri Lupolianski, has allocated several million dollars for the project.

        The cable car would not make visits to the Western Wall any easier on the Jewish Sabbath, when all public transport in Jerusalem shuts down in accord with Orthodox Jewish law.