The Jerusalem Municipal Planning and Construction Committee has given its approval to plans to build the first new gate in the Old City for over 100 years. The plan calls for the construction of a tunnel that will run underneath the wall between the Dung Gate and the Zion Gate.
The tunnel will incorporate an underground auditorium, visitors’ centre and classrooms, as well as an archeological exhibition centre. This will improve access to the Western Wall (which the Municipality of Jerusalem predicts will experience twice its current tourist figures in the next 10 years) and will also spur renovation of the Jewish Quarter.
Aside from the high cost associated with tunnelling through the solid rock beneath the wall, the main obstacle to construction is the anticipated Palestinian backlash against any construction projects located inside the Old City. The most memorable such incident of recent times being the1996 riot in response to the announcement by then Prime Minister of Netanyahu that he would open a new entrance to an archeological tunnel near holy ground. The riot caused 80 deaths.
The last gate was constructed in 1898 for the outsize retinue of Kaiser Wilhelm II and involved the demolition of the wall next to Jaffa Gate.
