Israel approves controversial Jerusalem cable car project

Israel's government on Sunday gave the green light to a controversial cable car project planned to run between West Jerusalem and the Old City in annexed East Jerusalem.

The decision came on the eve of the US moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed East Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

East Jerusalem is considered occupied Palestinian territory under international law but Israel has declared the whole of the city as its undivided capital.

"The cable car project will change the face of Jerusalem, offering tourists and visitors easy and comfortable access to the Western Wall," Israel's Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said. 

The Western Wall is one of the holiest sites in Judaism and lies in East Jerusalem - home to Christian and Muslim holy shrines.

The 1.4-kilometre-long line will cost $56 million and is planned to be up and running by 2021.     

Last year, the European Union warned that Israel was using tourism in Jerusalem as a means to legitimise illegal settlements in the eastern sector of the city, considered occupied Palestinian territory.

"Critics have described the project as turning the World Heritage site of Jerusalem into a commercial theme park while local Palestinian residents are absent from the narrative being promoted to the visitors," the report said.