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Silwan
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Silwan, or "Kfar Shiloah," (; ) is a mostly Arab neighborhood of roughly 45,000, adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem, extending along the Kidron Valley and running alongside the eastern slopes of Jabal al-Mukaber.
orically, Silwan was located on the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, near the outlet of the Gihon Spring at the Pool of Siloam, opposite the City of David. The villagers took advantage of the arable land to grow vegetables for market in Jerusalem.
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Silwan, or "Kfar Shiloah," (; ) is a mostly Arab neighborhood of roughly 45,000, adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem, extending along the Kidron Valley and running alongside the eastern slopes of Jabal al-Mukaber.
Geography
Historically, Silwan was located on the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, near the outlet of the Gihon Spring at the Pool of Siloam, opposite the City of David. The villagers took advantage of the arable land to grow vegetables for market in Jerusalem. Nineteenth century travelers describe it as verdant and cultivated, and perched on a steep, slippery scarp cut into hillside.
History
Numerous rock cuttings, steps and caves show the site has a long history of habitation, also by hermits. Silwan residents say that the construction of the village originated with the arrival of the Rashidun Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab. According to local legend, the Greek proprietors of Jerusalem were impressed by the humble majesty of the Caliph as he entered on foot while his servant rode in on camel, and presented him with the key to the city. The Caliph thereafter granted the wadi to "Khan Silowna," an agricultural community of cave dwellers living around the valley spring.
Silwan is mentioned as "Sulwan" by the Arab writer and traveller al-Muqaddasi. In 985, he wrote "The village of Sulwan is a place on the outskirts of the city [Jerusalem]. Below the village of 'Ain Sulwan (Spring of Siloam), of fairly good water, which irrigates the large gardens which were given in bequest (Waqf) by the Khalif 'Othman ibn 'Affan for the poor of the city. Lower down than this, again, is Job's Well (Bir Ayyub). It is said that on the Night of 'Arafat the water of the holy well Zamzam, at Makkah, comes underground to the water of the Spring (of Siloam). The people hold a festival here on that evening."
In 1834, during a large-scale peasants' rebellion against Ibrahim Pasha, thousands of rebels infiltrated Jerusalem through ancient underground sewage channels leading to the village of Silwan. A traveler to Palestine in 1883, T. Skinner, wrote that the olive groves near Silwan were a gathering place for Muslims on Fridays.
Yemenite Jewish settlement
In 1882, a group of Jews arrived from Yemen, fleeing the persecution there. Initially, they lived in tents. Later, when the rainy season began, they moved into the ancient burial caves on the east side of the valley. In 1884, the Yemenites moved into new stone houses built for them on the eastern slope of the Kidron, north of the Arab village, by a charity called Ezrat Niddahim. This settlement was called Kfar Hashiloach or the Yemenite Village. Construction costs were kept low by using the Shiloach as a water source instead of digging cisterns. An 1891 photo shows the homes on an otherwise vacant stretch of hillside. An early 20th century travel guide writes: In the “village of Silwan , east of Kidron … some of the fellah dwellings [are] old sepulchers hewn in the rocks. During late years a great extension of the village southward has sprung up, owing to the settlement here of a colony of poor Jews from Yemen, etc. many of whom have built homes on the steep hillside just above and east of Bir Eyyub,”
The Yemenite Jews left Silwan during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and Arabs moved into the vacated buildings. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Silwan was annexed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It remained under the Jordanian rule until 1967, when Israel captured the Old City. Until then, the village had delegates in the Jerusalem City Council.
Urban growth
In the twentieth century, Silwan grew northward towards Jerusalem, expanding from a small farming village into an urban neighborhood. Modern Arab Silwan encompasses Old Silwan (generally to the south), the Yemenite village (to the north), and the once-vacant land between. Today Silwan follows the ridge of the southern peak of the Mount of Olives to the east of the Kidron Valley, from the ridge west of the Ophel up to the southern wall of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.
New Jewish settlement
On maps issued by the Israeli government and organizations, part of what Palestinians and others consider to be Silwan is labeled City of David (Ir David in Hebrew). Since Israel gained control over East Jerusalem in 1967, Jewish organizations have sought to re-establish a Jewish presence in Silwan. In 1987, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations wrote to the Secretary-General to inform him of Israeli settlement activity; his letter noted that an Israeli company had taken over two Palestinian houses in the neighborhood of al-Bustan after evicting their occupants, claiming the houses were its property. Settlement expansion has increased since 1991. Wadi Hilwe, an area of Silwan close to the western wall of the Old City, wherein lies the neighborhood of Al-Bustan, has been a focus of Jewish settlement.
ElAd, a settlement organization which Haaretz says promotes the "Judaization" of East Jerusalem, and the Ateret Cohanim organization, are working to increase Jewish settlement in Silwan in cooperation with the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Village in Shiloah. In 2003, Ateret Cohanim set a precedent in the neighborhood, building the seven-story Beit Yehonatan development (named after Jonathan Pollard) without a permit; four years later, the courts ordered the eviction of the tenants, but after a few months the city of Jerusalem approved the construction retroactively. Building on ongoing housing construction in conjunction with archaeological excavation, in 2008 the Jerusalem municipality began "the process of approving a plan for a new housing complex, including a synagogue, in the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan".
Housing demolition and squatters
In the 1980s, Haaretz reports, the Housing Ministry "then under Ariel Sharon, worked hard to seize control of property in the Old City and in the adjacent neighborhood of Silwan by declaring them absentee property. The suspicion arose that some of the transactions were not legal; an examination committee...found numerous flaws." In particular, affidavits claiming that Arab homes in the area were absentee properties, filed by Jewish organizations, were accepted by the Custodian without any site visits or other follow-up on the claims. Under the cover of the Absentee Property Law, and indirect land sales, Jews have seized Arab homes while their occupants were still living there. In other cases, the Jewish National Fund has signed protected tenant agreements with ElAd , allowing the settler group to engage in construction without going through the tender process.
In 2005, the Israeli government stated that it would demolish 88 Arab homes in Al-Bustan neighborhood. No municipal court has ever ruled that any of the Arab homes slated for demolition were built illegally or without permits. Today 50 Jewish families live in the area,some in homes acquired from Arabs who claim they did not know they were selling their home to Jews, some in Beit Yehonatan, and some squatting in homes from which Arab families were evicted.
According to the Zionist left-wing organization, Rabbis for Human Rights, ElAd has "created a method of expelling citizens from their properties, appropriating public areas, enclosing these lands with fences and guards, and banning the entrance of the local residents...under the protection of a private security force." The Israeli organization Ir Amim expresses concern that "Jewish presence in the heart of Palestinian centers in East Jerusalem creates facts on the ground that may hurt the possibility of any future peace agreement....Ir Amim is also concerned that the presence of security forces in Palestinian neighborhoods will be increased in order to provide security for Jewish settlers. This presence cannot improve the already tense atmosphere in the area."
Archaeological excavation
ElAd is the exclusive sponsor of the 'City of David' digs, featuring excavation of the ancient Silwan aqueduct tunneling around and under the Old City. Israeli archaeologist Yoni Mizrachi says the Israel Antiquities Authority relies on ElAd for funding and has given control over the archaeological sites in Silwan to ElAd; According to Mizrachi, 'Ir David' is "one of the few sites operated by private organisations and it is the only one run by a right-wing organisation." In an Op-Ed for The Guardian, Palestinian rights activist Yigal Bronner (faculty of the University of Chicago), says of the Israel Antiquities Authority: "the same government agency that in 1997 warned against handing over the site to the settlers is now Elad's happy subcontractor."
Islamic-era skeletons discovered in the course of excavations were removed from the site without informing the Muslim authorities and have since disappeared. ElAd has been accused of conducting archaeological digs on Palestinian properties. According to the London Times, "Jewish settler groups are digging an extensive tunnel network under Muslim areas of Jerusalem's Old City while building a ring of settlements around it to bolster their claim to the disputed city in any future peace deal." Elad began the City of David tunnels without applying for a permit from the Jerusalem municipality. As of April 2008, the Israeli High Court had issued a temporary order staying further construction.
External sources
- of Silwan and new Jewish building in the area, including map, from "Stop the Wall: The grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign"
- of Silwan
- about Silwan displacement and settlements
- from Shiloah to Silwan
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