Fifth Foreign Firm Rejects Jerusalem Cable Car Project

The Jerusalem Development Authority is moving forward with a 1.4km cable car project connecting West Jerusalem to East Jerusalem despite the withdrawal of five foreign consultancy firms. ROPES, a company from Europe, recently became the fifth firm—joining four others from France and Switzerland—to decline a consultancy contract for the project.

Approved by the Israeli government in 2019 and upheld by the high court in 2022, the cable car aims to link the city center to a tourist complex promoted by the settler organization Elad. The Jerusalem Development Authority maintains that the project is proceeding according to its established timetables and expects to publish a formal tender in the coming months.

Opponents, including the NGO Emek Shaveh and the planning organization Bimkom, argue the project is designed to consolidate settler control and displace Palestinians from the Historic Basin. They warn that land and air rights expropriations threaten approximately 54 Palestinian homes in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan.