27 December 2017•Update: 27 December 2017
JERUSALEM
Israel announced Wednesday that a planned metro station at the Western or Wailing Wall (Al-Buraq wall) in occupied East Jerusalem would be named after U.S. President Donald Trump, according to local media.
Praising what he called Trump's "brave and historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital," Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz announced the decision, reported Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronot.
Trump's Dec. 6 decision has drawn international condemnation, including in a Turkish-sponsored resolution overwhelmingly passed last week by the UN General Assembly.
The final route of Israel’s Kotel metro project, according to the paper, will include a three-kilometer subterranean tunnel connecting the HaUma station with the wall, a holy site for Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike.
Israel’s finance minister called extending the Jerusalem express line all the way to the wall the "most important national project in the Transportation Ministry," said the paper.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the perennial Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 claiming it as the Jewish state's "undivided and eternal capital" -- a move never recognized by the international community.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.
