U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (L) and White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt break down the last remaining wall in front of the Pilgrimage Road, at a ceremony in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, on June 30, 2019. Image by Facebook

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two U.S. diplomats participated in the inauguration of a controversial archeological tourist site in eastern Jerusalem, angering Palestinian leaders.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and U.S. Mideast peace envoy Jason Greenblatt were invited to place the final sledge hammer blows on a wall covering the tunnel entrance to the Pilgrimage Road in the City of David.

Pilgrim Road was discovered in 2004 and includes wide stairs near the Shiloach, a water pool Jewish pilgrims immersed themselves in before ascending to the Temple. The newly inaugurated road allows visitors to walk from Shiloach to the Western Wall. The excavation of the road under Palestinian homes in the Silwan neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem has been a point of contention between Israel and the Palestinians.

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The Palestinian Authority criticized the participation of the U.S. diplomats, with PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat referring to Friedman as “an extremist Israeli settler” in a tweet about the event. “We should show this to all who participated in Manama,” the tweet also said.

Greenblatt took issue with the criticism, tweeting: “PA claims our attendance at this historic event supports “Judaization” of Jerusalem/is an act of hostility vs. Palestinians. Ludicrous. We can’t “Judaize” what history/archeology show. We can acknowledge it & you can stop pretending it isn’t true! Peace can only be built on truth.”

The left-wing NGO Emek Shaveh, whose goal is to preserve archeological sites as a shared heritage, said that there is not enough evidence to say that the street was part of the pilgrimage route.

Friedman asserted in his speech at the inauguration that the road “confirms with evidence, with science, with archaeological studies that which many of us already new, certainly in our heart: the centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish people.” He also said of the site: “This place is as much a heritage of the U.S. as it is a heritage of Israel.”

Dozens of activists from Peace Now protested outside of the event.

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