Over the 2024 summer, Israeli settler group the Ir David Foundation, also known as the Elad Association, debuted its latest touristic venture to the Jerusalem public: a nearly half-mile-long zip line.1

Hanging over the Palestinian neighborhood of al-Farouk2 and adjacent to the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jabal Mukabbir and Abu Tur in Jerusalem, the zip line connects two of Ir David’s sites, Beit Schatz visitor’s center and the “Peace Forest” camping ground, acting as a way to bypass Palestinian spaces and create an experience that deceptively conveys that the city is largely or only Jewish. They also add to the “Disneyfication” of an ancient city (see Israel’s Disneyfication of Jerusalem Seeks to Erase Palestinians’ Historic Presence).

“It basically functions as a way of instilling in the Israeli, but also international public the idea that East Jerusalem, particularly the area around the Old City, is dominated by a very Jewish story,” Talya Ezrahi, international relations coordinator at Israeli archaeological rights group Emek Shaveh, told Jerusalem Story.3 “And by doing so, it legitimizes contemporary Jewish presence and the settlements” (see Israeli Government Pumping Millions into Rebranding the Holy Basin, Erasing Palestinian Heritage).

The zip line is also expected to generate significant revenue for Ir David; Israeli activist group Peace Now reveals the settler organization could make millions of shekels from the project.4

In addition to presenting a Jewish narrative through tourism, Yonatan Mizrachi, with Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Team, explained that the zip line’s goal is also to attract Israelis while deterring Palestinians.

The zip line is located next to the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, a set of three sub-promenades with spectacular views of Jerusalem that were installed by Israel between the late 1980s and the early 2000s and stretch from the former British Governor’s House (called the Palace of the Commissioner, or Armon Hanatziv in Hebrew) in the Palestinian neighborhood Jabal Mukabbir along a strategically high ridge in the south of the city. The promenades also run alongside several Palestinian neighborhoods.

Given its location near several Palestinian neighborhoods, the promenade has become a frequent recreational spot for Palestinian Jerusalemites. The zip line seeks to change that.“Elad is getting the land to create a touristic attraction that’s more accessible to average Israelis,” Mizrachi told Jerusalem Story.5 “The zip line is supposed to make life less comfortable for the Palestinians in this area.”

Strategically, the zip line overlooks Jerusalem’s Old City. With a settler group in control of this iconic view, the city’s character and history are then portrayed as purely Jewish.

“We’re talking about the most important lookout over Jerusalem’s Old City,” Mizrachi said.

The zip line is part of a series of Elad projects seeking to erase East Jerusalem’s Palestinian presence, including a suspension bridge and a cable car from West Jerusalem into the Old City. These sites not only damage Jerusalem’s famed historic landscape and skyline but also change the city’s demography. For instance, the cable car is envisioned to ferry 3,000 tourists each hour from West Jerusalem to the Old City, flying over the heads of the Palestinians in Silwan below. The cable car’s route will also expropriate land from residents in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan and potentially result in expulsions from homes.

The zip line is four meters high and stretches for 784 meters—from Elad’s Beit Schatz visitors’ center to its compound in the Jewish National Fund (JNF)-constructed “Peace Forest”—again catering to tourists and Israelis while excluding Palestinians.

The process of transforming East Jerusalem from Palestinian to Israeli has been ongoing for decades. Since Israel occupied East Jerusalem following the 1967 War, Israeli settlement activity has ballooned southeast of the Old City, specifically targeting the densely populated Jabal Mukabbir neighborhood. These settlements include Armon Hanatziv, Nof Zion, and Lermus Hill (see Judaizing Jerusalem: Jewish Settlements Are Soaring in and around the City and A Jerusalem Expert Explains Israel’s Tsunami of Settlement Plans in East Jerusalem).

Muhammad Zahikah, a journalist who lives in Jabal Mukabbir, told Jerusalem Story that the increasing settlement expansion has “kept the Holy City on a hot plate.”6

“These cancerous settlement projects in the heart of the Jerusalem neighborhoods are a recipe of total destruction for the future of the two-state solution, and they create an atmosphere of hatred, violence, and conflict,” Zahikah said, explaining the daily friction between Palestinian residents, Israeli settlers, and government authorities further fans the flames in an already volatile area of Jerusalem.

The zip line wasn’t possible without government assistance.

According to Peace Now,7 Israeli government authorities were deeply involved in advancing this project. The zip line’s entry and alighting stations—Beit Schatz and the “Peace Forest” complex—were granted to Elad by the Israel Land Authority, without a public tender. Beit Schatz also received nearly 90 percent of its budget from the state via Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, the Jerusalem Development Authority, Jerusalem Municipality, and the JNF.8 The Jerusalem Municipality approved the zip line’s construction, and Israel’s Planning and Building Commission even changed the forest’s status to allow for building in the area.

“Without all this kind of support from the government, the zip line wouldn’t have happened,” Mizrachi said. “I doubt someone else could do something like that, if you’re not so well-connected.”

The state’s support of this project is part of a larger goal to solidify Israeli control of occupied Palestinian territory and, in doing so, prevent a Palestinian state and eradicate international discourse around the issue.

Mizrachi explained the zip line is in an area referred to as “no-man’s-land,” a narrow strip of land not claimed by Israel or Jordan following the 1949 Armistice Agreements. In 1967, Israel occupied the area, along with the rest of the West Bank.9

“In the last few years, we’ve seen Israel invest in many projects in ‘no-man’s-land,’” Mizrachi said. “The idea is to erase the Green Line between East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem.”

Ultimately, the zip line isn’t just another benign tourist attraction but rather yet another cog in Israel’s state-settler project, propelling its agenda forward.