The Italian cable car engineering consultancy ROPES has declined work on the project, its chief executive, Stephan Obexer, told the Guardian, citing another commitment in India. The company had been the subject of a notice of intent to award a contract without a public tender from the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) in late September, weeks before Israel's 27 October elections.
The 1.4km route, approved by the Israeli government in 2019 and upheld by the high court in 2022, would connect West Jerusalem to a planned 16,000 square metre tourist complex promoted by Elad, a settler organisation seeking to consolidate Israeli control over Palestinian areas of occupied East Jerusalem. The project had appeared to stall for four years before the JDA's September move.
At least four foreign companies, three French and one Swiss, had previously expressed interest in the project, with several withdrawing over its political sensitivity, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. A French company, CNA, pulled out less than a year ago, followed by Switzerland's Histec Engineering. In 2015, the French government urged one company not to participate.
A spokesperson for the JDA told Haaretz that the cable car continues to proceed according to plan and timetables, that steps to promote it are subject to the mandatory tenders law, and that the tender is expected to be ready for publication in the coming months.
Critics dispute the project's purpose. Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO, said the project threatens Palestinian communities and the timeless landscape of Jerusalem's historic core, and that its central motivation is to consolidate settlers' hold on the area and displace Palestinians from the Historic Basin. Alon Arad, the group's executive director, said the route begins in West Jerusalem and ends at a compound run by the far-right Elad Foundation, which stands to benefit from a project costing the state around half a billion shekels.
According to rights groups, the project directly threatens about 54 Palestinian homes in the Wadi Hilweh neighbourhood of Silwan, where authorities have issued 17 expropriation notices covering about 8.7 dunams (2.15 acres). Sari Kronish of Bimkom, an Israeli planning rights organisation, said cable cars would pass as close as four metres above rooftops and near residential windows, violating privacy and restricting future development for the roughly 450 residents living beneath the route.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority said its involvement was limited to providing feedback on proposed alternatives. ROPES did not respond to questions about whether legal concerns over the project's location had influenced its decision, the JDA did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment, and the Elad Foundation, which does not appear to be formally involved, also did not respond.
The project is being accelerated amid escalating settler violence and land seizures across the occupied West Bank, including attacks this month on Palestinian villages, olive pickers and European diplomats.