BREAKING NEWS

Leftist group demands downsizing of structure near Jerusalem's Old City

Despite considerable pressure from the left-wing NGO Emek Shaveh to radically downsize the contested Kedem Center, being built by a right-wing group near the Old City walls at the entrance to Silwan, Emek Shaveh leader Yonotan Mizrahi said it was unlikely that the opposition would succeed.
“We got the feeling that they will approve what has already been approved for the center,” Mizrahi said following a Tuesday morning hearing by the National Planning and Building Committee.
Last May, the committee approved a scaled-down version of the controversial 16,000-square meter visitors’ compound, to be operated by the Ir David Foundation (Elad) over an active excavation site.
While the foundation, which operates the City of David National Park, contends that the compound – located south of the Dung Gate and over the so-called Givati parking lot – will be instrumental in drawing tourists by housing ancient archeological findings, the leftwing group denounced it as destructive.