RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned an Israeli court decision to approve a cable car project in the occupied East Jerusalem.

A ministry statement termed the cable car project as “an integral part of Israel’s Judaization campaign in Jerusalem with a view to eroding its Palestinian, Islamic and Christian identity.”

“The court decision is another proof that the court system is part of the Israeli occupation to serve its settlement and Judaization plans,” the ministry said.

It went on to appeal to the US administration and the international community to pile pressure on Israel to halt the project in the occupied city.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday rejected petitions against the construction of the project, which extends over 1.4 km long from the Mount of Olives area, adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City, to the Al-Maghariba Gate, one of the Old City's main gates near Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, a move never recognized by the international community.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar