As part of its appreciation for recognising Jerusalem as its capital, Israel has concluded plan to build a $700 million underground train station for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israel’s transportation minister Yisrael Katz’s plan is to dig a railway tunnel under Jerusalem’s Old City, passing near sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and ending at the Western Wall with a station named after Trump.
Katz’s plan, currently in the initial stages, involves constructing two underground stations and excavating over 2 miles (3 kilometres) of tunnel beneath downtown Jerusalem and under the politically sensitive Old City.
Transportation Ministry spokesman Avner Ovadia said on Wednesday that if approved, the project would take four years to complete.
The project would extend Jerusalem’s soon-to-open high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.
The route will run close to — but not directly under — the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and buried, and a contested holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Previous excavations by Israel near the holy site — the spiritual epicentre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — have sparked violent Palestinian protests.
Because of those sensitivities, the proposal will likely meet with heavy resistance from the Palestinians, neighbouring Arab countries and the international community.
Katz, a senior Cabinet official who also serves as Israel’s intelligence minister, is a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is seen by many as his likely eventual successor as head of the Likud party.
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