LETTER FROM JERUSALEM: Israel's Eiffel Tower

by Arlynn Nellhaus

Picture the Seattle Space Needle in Jerusalem.

It's no dream. This nightmare is in the final planning stages.

What the Jerusalem city building committee intends to inflict is an almost 500-foot-tall tower rising above the old city that will have a restaurant close to the top and a synagogue for only 36 at the very top, all to be reached by cable car.

Jerusalem's character is that of a low-lying city with a unique sense of intimacy. But over the years, several jarring intrusions have interrupted the way Jerusalem's buildings snuggle against its hills.

Some are the original Hilton, now the Crowne Plaza Hotel; the Wolfson Towers complex, which walled in the poor neighborhood of Sha'aei Hessed (but who cares what poor folks think, right?) and, most recently, the supremely ugly Jerusalem Tower in the center of town.

Some of these monstrosities were built under the aegis of long-time Mayor Teddy Kollek, who was deposed by Ehud Olmert about six years ago.

Olmert publicly stated, contrary to pleas made here by international and local architects to preserve Jerusalem, that he wants Jerusalem "to look like the great cities of the world."

That means high rises. High rises in a city in which they don't belong. Mayor Olmert, now in his second term, clearly has the aesthetic appreciation of an oyster.

It hasn't entered his head that people come to Jerusalem to see Jerusalem, not New York. Or Seattle. Nor, as he would have it, the Old City as Disneyland.

You'd think that such a unique city, the holiest in Judaism and with strong religious links to Christianity and Islam, the city that inspires the world's dreams, would be protected. Guess again.

The only city plan dates from 1959, and that was a left over from the British Mandate. Since then, Jerusalem simply has gone to the highest bidder.

What's more, who is bidding on what and what the city fathers intend to do are well-guarded secrets. Only after everything is in place for the bulldozers to move in, does the riff-raff, the public, get an official chance to say anything.

And by then, the city fathers cry, "But these builders already have invested too much money in the plan for us to scrap it." Can't you hear the crocodile tears fall?

This latest figment of a sick imagination is to be built along with a row of 40-floor hotels on a ridge, Armon Hanatziv (East Talpiot), that overlooks the Old City.

Below it is the peaceful and lovely Haas Promenade with its gardens and paths crisscrossing down a slope facing the Old City and a panorama of Jerusalem. Close by is the hopefully named Peace Forest.

Peter Haas, president of the San Francisco-based Walter and Elise Haas Fund, is up in arms. He sent his objections to Dalia Itzik, the Environment Minister, who forwarded them to Mayor Olmert, a man of remarkable stubbornness and temper.

Haas wrote, "When we considered the grant for the construction of the promenade, we were assured that the area would be permanently preserved as a special site of scenic beauty... We are appalled that this project is being considered for construction."

It wouldn't be out of character for Olmert's reaction to be, "We already have the Haas Promenade. So now, what do we care what Peter Haas thinks?"

Municipality officials, as aesthetically challenged as Olmert, claim that the tower will enhance the beauty of the city and become a major attraction. Opponents, they say, are short-sighted.

City spokesman Haggai Elias told the Jerusalem Post, "There is not one Western city in the world which does not have a tower which tourists and residents alike ascend to see the view of the city."

Perhaps Mr. Elias hasn't been able to visit more cities than Paris and New York. Or Seattle. But my former hometown, Denver, doesn't have such a tower, but does have sites for Rocky Mountain peak finding. Denver also has a law governing building height, so mountain views can't be blocked.

But that was a law passed for the benefit of the city's residents, not builders -- a concept unknown in Jerusalem, as if we still live under the Ottoman Turks.

Jerusalem already has towers from which to view the city. The glorious panoramas from the Tower of David and the Church of the Redeemer are two. Also, there is the sweeping sight from the Haas Promenade itself. They must be chopped liver to Elias.

The deadline for the public to register complaints is December 12. Petitions are being passed throughout the city.

Will international objections carry any weight? Or will Olmert, with his edifice complex, only dig in his heels? It's worth a try.

( If you love and want to preserve Jerusalem, don't just clap your hands; Send the city a message at [email protected]. Olmert's letter to the public on the city's website, www.jerusalem.muni.il, even specifically asks for "your ideas.")

Failing that, the most effective way for any construction project in Jerusalem to stop is if ancient human bones are found on the site. Then the Ultra-Orthodox spring into action declaring it to have been a cemetery, that the bones can't be moved and construction can't continue.

Perhaps we can find a few old bones.

Arlynn Nellhaus is a former Denver Post reporter now based in Jerusalem and the author of Into the Heart of Jerusalem.