Seven Arches Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Seven Arches Hotel is a hotel in East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...

 in the Arab neighborhood of A-Tur
A-Tur
At-Tur is an Arab neighborhood on the Mount of Olives approximately 1 km east of the Old City of Jerusalem. At-Tur is situated in East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967....

 on the Mount of Olives
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...

. The hotel overlooks the Jewish cemetery
Jewish cemetery
A Jewish cemetery is a cemetery where members of the Jewish faith are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition....

 that covers the slopes of the mountain. The hotel is owned by the Jordanian government and built on a leased land owned by the Jerusalemite prominent Arab family Al-Alami (Arabic: العلمي), whose many of its members still reside in Jerusalem and Jordan, the hotel is claimed to be currently possessed by the Custodian of Absentee Property, an arm of the Israeli government.

History

The hotel was built in 1964 with the financial assistance of Pan American Airlines during the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. King Hussein of Jordan
Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal was the third King of Jordan from the abdication of his father, King Talal, in 1952, until his death. Hussein's rule extended through the Cold War and four decades of Arab-Israeli conflict...

 authorized construction of the hotel and an access road that ran across the world's oldest and largest Jewish cemetery, destroying thousands of gravestones.

The hotel, consisting of a main building with seven arched windows and two wings connected by colonnades, was planned by an American architect, William Tabler. It was operated by the InterContinental
InterContinental
InterContinental is a brand of upscale luxury hotels, founded by Pan American World Airways, under Juan Trippe, and now owned by InterContinental Hotels Group. The chain operates over 200 hotels and resorts in approximately 75 nations.-History:...

 hotel chain and was considered the most luxurious hotel in Jerusalem.

The PLO held its first Palestine National Council conference at the hotel in May 1964.

Today

The Seven Arches is a 3-star hotel with 169 rooms notable for its spectacular view of Jerusalem.Despite reports in 2010 that plans had been submitted for expansion of the hotel, the general manager of the Seven Arches, Awni Inshewat denied this. He said there had been some confusion over an application for a building permit for a large Christian prayer tent located at the site: "The tent has been there for about five years, but the municipality said it needs a building permit, so we applied for that."
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