The developers insist that the plans — some of which have been in the works for years — will pump life back into long-neglected areas that were difficult to reach, overtaken by drug dealers and prone to vandalism and arson.

But they could also upset the delicate balance in Jerusalem, which is always volatile. The past month has seen a rise in tensions, especially around the Old City.

And most of the projects have been approved in government committees without much public scrutiny, so there has been little discussion about the possible impact.

Much of the land in question has until now been open green space with little to no development.

In addition to the zip line, the plans include a pedestrian suspension bridge across a preserved green space below the Old City ramparts known as the Hinnom Valley, or Wadi Rababeh in Arabic, the site of ancient sacrifices and burials.

The model farm already sits on the valley floor. The highly contentious cable car is planned to ferry visitors across the valley toward the Old City and the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war and then annexed it, though many countries still consider it occupied territory.

A private Jewish settler organisation, the City of David Foundation, or Elad, its Hebrew acronym, is partnering with local and national government agencies to help develop the attractions. Those agencies are providing much of the financing.

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Elad is dedicated to the development of what many experts believe to be the biblical City of David — the original royal city of the Israelite King David 3,000 years ago — and its environs. Its flagship project has been managing the City of David archaeological site in Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.

More than three decades ago, Elad began acquiring properties around the site, where excavations began more than a century ago, and moving Jewish families into the houses there.

Doron Spielman, vice president of Elad, said his group worked for the benefit of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem. Its mission, he said, was “to bring tourists, education and archaeology so someone enters an entire landscape that is biblical and can connect to their historical identity and to their roots, to their DNA”.

Spielman said the groups opposing the development preferred “to keep this area of Jerusalem in a state of disrepair and neglect so they can further their narrative that Jews and Arabs can’t prosper together here under Israeli sovereignty.”

The half-mile-long zip line is planned to start from a point on the ridge where Elad acquired a dilapidated old building years ago and where it is now putting up a visitor centre. The ride will end near an Elad-run camping and activity site in the expansive Peace Forest.

Local Palestinians claim ownership of some of the land now being cleared and landscaped in the Hinnom Valley, which was declared part of the Jerusalem Ramparts national park in 1974. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which has partnered with Elad in remodeling the valley, says the ownership of the disputed land has not been determined.

Ahmad Awad Sumarin, 47, a distant relative and spokesperson for the families who claim the land in Hinnom Valley, said he and his relatives had been harvesting family olive trees there since he was 5. Everything now being created in the valley was fake, he insisted.

“This is not our culture,” he said.

The Palestinian families are appealing in court to stop changes to the land, which has always been open to visitors.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a deputy mayor of Jerusalem who is in charge of the city’s tourism portfolio, described the suspension bridge and the cable car as green, practical solutions for a historic area that has long been traffic-clogged and neglected.

“Tourism is a very significant part of the income of our city,” Hassan-Nahoum said. “The tourism industry is one of the city’s biggest employers, especially for residents of East Jerusalem.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.