US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has visited a contentious archaeological site beneath Jerusalem, giving American backing to an Israeli settler-led project that critics say undermines the prospects for a future Palestinian state.
The visit constitutes the latest endorsement by the Trump administration of initiatives that opponents say are aimed at cementing Israel’s claims to East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.
The City of David archaeological park sits in the shadow of Haram Al Sharif, the third-holiest site in Islam. Global heritage body Unesco opposed the construction of the park in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, outside what most of the world recognises as Israel's territory.
Mr Rubio said he would be inaugurating a site attached to the park known as Pilgrim's Road, believed to have been traversed by visitors about 2,000 years ago.
“It's one of the most important archaeological sites in the world,” he said before leaving Washington on Saturday. “I understand people want to involve politics in it. I understand everything in this region is political to some extent. But at the end of the day, it's an extraordinary archaeological site.”
The Trump administration's 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the subsequent move of the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv marked a departure from decades of American policy that Jerusalem's status should be determined through Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
The visit comes ahead of a meeting of world leaders at the UN in New York this month, when the UK, France, Malta, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state. Mr Rubio has said the move would only encourage Israel to take its own actions to prevent the formation of a Palestinian state.
Residents and Israeli advocacy groups say the excavations under Silwan have been conducted beneath Palestinian homes without consulting residents and do not meet the standards of professional archaeology.
But Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs at the City of David, told Reuters: “All the archaeological excavations are carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority according to the highest standards.”
The battle over Jerusalem's archaeological and religious sites reflects the struggle over sovereignty since Israel's foundation in 1948. East Jerusalem and the Old City, with its Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian quarters, came under Jordanian control after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with Jews barred from its holy sites until 1967.
Since capturing the area, Israel has pursued policies aimed at maintaining a Jewish majority in Jerusalem while Palestinian residents face home demolitions, restrictive building permits and what advocacy groups describe as systematic discrimination.
The City of David park has been operated since the early 2000s by Elad, a settler group that has appropriated land, acquired Palestinian homes and pushed for the eviction of Palestinian families in Silwan, according to a July report by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Despite its rich, heterogeneous history, the narrative presented at the City of David site focuses only on the site’s Jewish history, disregarding all other periods and culture,” the panel's report said.
Mr Rubio's visit to Jerusalem began on Sunday when Mr Netanyahu led him and US ambassador Mike Huckabee on a tour of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site. They also visited the Western Wall tunnels, another Israeli excavation that has been criticised by the UN.
A US State Department representative said Sunday's visit reaffirmed “America's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's eternal capital”.
