Jerusalem's sad decline
Will tourists leave as capital's natural beauty increasingly fades?
The House of Representatives passed a resolution Wednesday demonstrating its solidarity with the united Jerusalem and reminding the American president of his obligation to relocate America's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and adhere to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act.
This won't happen in the near or distant future. And perhaps it's for the best: Jerusalem would require substantial investment before it can function as Israel's real capital.
Forty years of quasi-unification have not benefited the city. The Jewish neighborhoods built on its extended outskirts excel in astonishingly ugly architecture. An old-new university built on Mount Scopus resembles a combination of an atomic bomb shelter, a bunker, and an underground train station that doesn't exist. Not quite the appropriate place to house the nation's intellectual center.
Structures planted into the complex of the Old City and the Western Wall's vicinity came directly from the workers' neighborhoods of the 1950s, with minor improvements. On one side of Jerusalem a shopping mall reminiscent of a small American town has been erected, and on the other it has been shrouded in a grey veil of highways and tunnels.
Jerusalem's urban center has become neglected, stagnated, and dirty while convenient access has been blocked in anticipation of the light train. However, the route of that train serves a political interest and is not related to transport or urban concerns.
While on the topic of transportation: Whoever designed the central bus station that welcomes visitors to Jerusalem should be expelled from the city. The same applies to the somewhat strange and remote train station located somewhere in that abovementioned shopping mall, but which does not have direct access to it. Now the Knesset is also being renovated: It is beginning to resemble the shopping mall.
The relative standard of living in Jerusalem has deteriorated since 1967. The level of poverty is higher than in any other growing Israeli city – and any large western country. The national rift between the Jewish and the Arab parts of Jerusalem erodes public services in both parts of the city.
The Mamilla neighborhood project, which according to the designer's initial vision was supposed to bridge east and west, has remained unfinished for many years and is only now somehow approaching completion. Meanwhile, however, the face of the city has changed, deep wrinkles have set in, and aged skin is peeling away from it.
The wall that fell in June 1967 is being re-erected, albeit in a different location. A random facelift will no longer suffice for Jerusalem. Without a political-economic-social revolution the city will continue to go under.
Four Seasons still waiting
Are there tourists in Jerusalem? Here and there, yes. But they don't really have much to do there after they complete the tour of the holy sites and Yad Vashem (the only impressive building constructed in the city.)
Are there hotels in Jerusalem? There are and there aren’t. The capital city lacks boutique hotels that would attract the refined tourist who abhors crowds, and it lacks the flagship hotels of leading international chains.
Hilton is no longer Hilton; Hyatt is no longer Hyatt and so on and so forth. The Four Seasons hotel chain, which complied with the Jerusalem municipality's request 12 years ago to build a luxury hotel in the city, is still waiting for a building permit.
The Four Seasons is one of the top three prestigious hotel chains in the world and its hotels consistently enjoy top-grade ratings. Cities of the world are vying for its investments. Not Jerusalem: Once it was because future neighbors were unhappy with the planned hotel and once because the authorities weren't satisfied.
The hotel hasn't been built to this day, and recently at the end of a session by the Planning and Construction Committee, it was decided to postpone the decision for another six months, to the chagrin of the Four Seasons' representatives.
Really, what’s the rush? The eternal city will remain the eternal city after all, even after its natural beauty is buried under piles of dirt, its streets crisscrossed by light train tracks, and opportune tourists quickly leave it without spending a single night there.
