Occupied Jerusalem- Yesterday morning, Saturday, hundreds of Jerusalemites were surprised by signs in front of their homes warning them to vacate them within two months, in order to meet “the needs of the public and establish a transportation line for a large number of passengers,” 180 meters away from the Mughrabi Gate, one of the gates of the occupied Jerusalem wall, specifically the northwestern entrance to the town of Silwan. South of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“We will only go to the grave,” this is what Al-Maqdisi Abd Abu Aram said to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, commenting on the evacuation notice, as he stood with a crowd of residents who were shocked by the decision and began reading the signs repeatedly to try to understand what is happening, as the “Local Planning and Building Committee” in the municipality chose Jerusalem gave this way to inform them of its decision.
Abu Aram lives with his children and grandchildren in a house that he bought in 1985. He says that the eviction will affect about 110 families, and will harm more than 3,500 Jerusalemites in Silwan, specifically the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, the Baydoun neighborhood, Al Salam Street, and other lands.
He adds, bewildered, “They wrote: Get out of your house and receive financial compensation, where will I go with the money, and where will my children live? This is shocking news and we are confused about our matter.”
Forced evacuation and short notice
The exact number of Jerusalemites threatened with eviction is not yet known, due to the occupation municipality not notifying families individually, and publishing maps and names of areas with their Hebrew names and pond numbers.
The municipality said in its announcement that the total confiscated area is about 8,725 square meters (about 9 dunums) and described the threatened land, saying that it is “Ophel Road, Melchite Zedek, Ma’ale HaShalom, Gai Ben Hinom, Hebron Road, and Remez Road,” all of which are large areas extending from the train station. Al-Othmani, west of Jerusalem, the Prophet David area, and the Rababa and Hilweh valleys.
According to the announcement, the decision came in accordance with the Land Law (purchase for public needs) and the Planning and Building Law, and in accordance with the Old City cable car plan.
Residents were given 60 days from the date of publication of the announcement to relinquish their ownership of the aforementioned lands, with their right to request compensation provided that evidence and documents are attached to prove ownership. The announcement added, “The purchase of possession of the aforementioned land will be for a temporary period of 8 years.”
The director of the Wadi Hilweh Information Center (Jawad Siam) commented on the temporary period, saying, “When the house is demolished, its owners are expelled from it, and a park or other project is built, where will Al-Maqdisi return after the eight years have passed?” He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that this case was discussed in the Israeli courts years ago and was aimed at erecting columns for the aerial train only, but today it has returned to seize 60% of the area of Wadi Hilweh in Silwan.
A precedent in Jerusalem
In the same context, Siam says that this forced eviction is the first of its kind since the occupation of East Jerusalem, after the displacement of the people of the Neighborhood of Honor from the Old City in 1967, in terms of the sheer number and importance of the site.
He confirms to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the occupation repeatedly tried to seize lands and houses in the town of Silwan, and was able to buy 40 houses and establish settlement outposts, but today it returned to say to the people, “If you did not sell in the past, we will force you today in the way and at the price we want.”
The evacuation decision was first published in the Israeli Ministry of Justice’s announcement archive on September 19, then another version was published under the pretext of “correcting a printing error” on October 31, but the occupation municipality waited about 3 months to inform Jerusalemites about it, taking advantage of the state of war. The world is preoccupied with what is happening in the Gaza Strip, and the state of oppression and abuse to which Jerusalemites have been exposed since the seventh of last October.
According to Fakhri Abu Diab, a specialist in Jerusalem affairs, the area threatened with evacuation is in a sensitive and important location, as it has for centuries been a main road for the people of Silwan and southern Jerusalem towards the Old City and Al-Aqsa Mosque. “The Mughrabi Gate (Bab al-Sur) leading to the Buraq Wall and the Mughrabi Gate (Bab al-Aqsa) is The closest to them. By controlling those lands, expelling the Jerusalemites, and closing the street, thousands of Jerusalemites will be forced to go to other doors that are farther away.
Abu Diab said that most of the houses in the threatened area were built before the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, so the occupation failed to demolish them under the pretext of not having a permit, and invented another pretext today, in order to strangle Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City, with direct efforts from the “Elad” settlement association, which is based in the outpost. “The City of David” is headquartered in the heart of Wadi Hilweh, close to the homes threatened with eviction.
Integrated projects to Judaize Silwan
This evacuation serves the air train project that was approved by the Israeli government in 2020, and in 2022 the Supreme Court rejected all objections submitted against it.
The train extends for a length of 1.4 kilometers around the Jerusalem Wall, through 4 stations – one of which is near the Mughrabi Gate – with funding amounting to 200 million shekels ($54 million) to connect East and West Jerusalem, in addition to its ability to transport 3,000 tourists and settlers per hour via its 41 cars. .
The air train comes as a continuation of the Judaization of settlement projects in the town of Silwan, starting with the suspended pedestrian bridge over Wadi Al-Rababa, which opened in October last year, and the tunnel network within the “City of David,” and passing through the seizure of Al-Hamra land at the end of Wadi Al-Rababa in December last year. The preparation for the “Kedem Yerushalayim” project in what is known today as the “Givati Parking Lot” does not end with the threat of demolition of dozens of homes in the Al-Bustan neighborhood to establish a national park.
Abu Diab concludes his statements by saying, “The occupation attaches special importance to the town of Silwan, and claims its religious right to it. Therefore, since its occupation, it has been working to tip the demographic balance in favor of the settlers, and to obliterate any Palestinian and Arab aspects in it, to create a spatial space that makes those who visit it believe that it is purely Jewish.”