JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Interior Ministry approved a plan to build a new hotel in eastern Jerusalem.
Under the plan approved Tuesday, an Arab open-air market and an Arab kindergarten would have to be demolished, but would be rebuilt as part of a new commercial center.
The 200-room hotel is to be built by the state-owned Jerusalem Economic Corp. on city-owned land just outside the Old City walls overlooking the Kidron Valley. Its roof, on street level, is planned as a city observation post, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The hotel would be part of a complex to include stores, two kindergartens and a welfare office, according to reports.
Opponents of the construction have 60 days to oppose the plan.
Planned Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem could raise the ire of the United States, which has called for a total freeze on building in territories captured by Israel in 1967. Palestinians claim eastern Jerusalem for the capital of their future Palestinian state.
