An ancient Palestinian town, located south of the Noble Sanctuary, dating back more than 5,000 years, as it was the first nucleus from which the city of Jerusalem began. It is known as the “Garrison of Jerusalem,” as it forms a protective arc for the Old City along its borders to the south.
Since its occupation in 1967, the town has been suffering from Judaization and settlement operations, and about half of its neighborhoods are under threat of complete demolition and removal, based on Israeli allegations and narratives, which claim that the town was established on the ruins of the “City of King David.” As a result, the town’s residents face the risk of forced displacement, as a result of Losing their homes and confiscating their lands.
Location and geography
The town of Silwan is located south of the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Holy Mosque, opposite the Mughrabi Gate. It is bordered to the north by: the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to the west by the southern slopes of Mount the Prophet David (Mount Zion), to the south by the northern slopes of Mount Mukaber, and to the east by: the villages of Abu Dis, Al-Eizariya, and Mount Al-Tur.
Silwan is located within the municipal boundaries of the city of Jerusalem. It is considered the town closest to the southern wall of Jerusalem, as it is only about 300 meters away from it. It extends over an area estimated at about 5,640 dunums, and its average elevation is about 650 meters above sea level. It is based on a series of slopes separating it. Several valleys, the most important of which are: Wadi Hilweh, Wadi Al-Rababa, and Wadi Yasoul.
The town enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The average annual precipitation is approximately 405 mm. The average temperature reaches 17 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
Its population is about 60 thousand people, and it includes a number of neighborhoods, the most important of which are: Wadi Hilweh, Wadi Al-Rababa, Wadi Yasoul, Wadi Qaddoum, Al-Bustan Neighborhood, Bir Ayoub, Ain Al-Lawza, Batn Al-Hawa, Ras Al-Amud, Sweileh, Al-Shiyah, Al-Farouq, and Al-Thawri.
Label
It is believed that the origin of the name “Silwan” comes from the Aramaic word “sillon”, which means thorn and bramble. The name may be derived from the word “Shalla” or “Sala”, which is a common Semitic root, meaning calm, stillness, and isolation.
The town was famous as the “Garrison of Jerusalem.” Because its borders form a protective arc for the Old City that extends from its southeast to its southwest, and the struggle of the people of Silwan had an effective role in supporting the steadfastness and steadfastness of the people of Jerusalem.
the date
Excavations and historical studies have confirmed that the first beginnings of settlement in the city of Jerusalem were on the southeastern side of the Holy Mosque in the town of Silwan, more than 7 thousand years ago.
According to historians, the Jebusites, one of the Canaanite tribes, built their city, which they called “Jebus,” more than 5 thousand years ago, on “Tel Al-Duhur” or “Tel Ophel” in Wadi Hilweh. The hill was surrounded by 3 valleys: Hell, Rababah, and the valley. These valleys are natural defensive lines on 3 sides, and their northern side was exposed without a natural obstacle, so it was the site of invasion by the invaders.
The flowing waters of the Silwan spring contributed greatly to the establishment of an urban cluster in the region. The Jebusites built huge fortifications around the spring to defend it, and dug a tunnel to draw its water into their fortress. The tunnel continued to be used for a long time, and whenever it became blocked, people re-dug it, and the spring continued. Over thousands of years, the city has been nourished by the sources of life.
Evidence and antiquities indicate that the region has been continuously inhabited since the fourth millennium BC, and in the 18th century BC it witnessed the presence of a large city, which included fortresses and complex irrigation systems.
In the seventh century BC, during the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah, the Silwan Tunnel, or “Hezekiah’s Tunnel,” was built to confront the Assyrian siege of the city and prevent them from reaching the spring. This resulted in the formation of the “Silwan Pool” as a result of the gathering of water coming through the tunnel.
Following the Babylonian conquest of the city in 586 BC, the area was completely destroyed, and no remains were found dating back to the period between the fifth and third centuries BC, but prosperity returned to the region around the first century BC.
In the Byzantine era, some parts of the town, especially Wadi Hilweh, were located within the walls of Jerusalem, and this continued until the eleventh century AD, when some of the walled lands of the city were shortened, and the areas that were removed became agricultural lands.
It is believed that the modern town arose east of the Kidron Valley in the 16th century AD, then began to develop gradually, and during the British Mandate era, it expanded further towards the southeastern chain of hills of the Old City of Jerusalem and the foothills of Mount Zion, and in that era the town’s population increased significantly.
During the British Mandate, the people of Silwan resisted the occupation and participated in the revolutions. Then they stood against the Israeli occupation in 1948 and contributed to the defense of the city of Jerusalem. However, a large part of the Al-Thawri neighborhood was occupied, while the rest of the town became subject to Jordanian rule, and was annexed to the Jerusalem municipality. Arabic.
Confiscation of land and property
Following the 1948 war, the Israeli occupation seized large areas of the town. After the 1967 war, Silwan was completely subject to the occupation, which directly confiscated about 73 thousand dunams of the town’s lands, which extended to the Khan al-Ahmar area between the cities of Jerusalem and Jericho.
The borders of the Jerusalem municipality were redrawn, so that Silwan became part of it, and it was included within the so-called “Holy Basin” area, which includes the old neighborhoods of the city of Jerusalem, and the entire town became within the sphere of the occupation’s ambitions, especially the sites most attached to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where it was destroyed. Targeted based on religious allegations.
The Wadi Hilweh neighborhood is considered the neighborhood closest to the Jerusalem Wall and the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it is being targeted according to an Israeli narrative that claims that the ancient ruins found on the Hill of Duhur are the remains of the “City of David.” Although the results of the excavations do not agree with the biblical narratives, the excavations at the site It is continuous, and extends to include the spring and pool of Silwan and the places surrounding them.
80% of the Al-Bustan neighborhood is under threat, as it has been called a “green zone,” and the occupation authorities are trying to turn it into a national park under the name “King’s Garden” within the Biblical Gardens Project, based on other allegations claiming that the neighborhood was founded on the site of “King David’s Garden,” which It existed in the tenth century BC.
The occupation authorities took control of the ancient Umayyad palaces, and they were inaugurated in 2011 as “purifiers” for the alleged Temple, and built terraces and iron platforms, which were called the “Biblical Path to the Temple Purifiers.”
The Batn al-Hawa neighborhood is under threat, on the pretext that it was Jewish property before 1948. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled to confiscate 180 square meters of the historic Bab al-Rahma cemetery, which includes the graves of the two venerable companions Ubadah ibn al-Samit and Shaddad ibn Aws. One of the streets was also widened at the expense of “Children’s graves.”
Within the “Holy Basin” project, lands are confiscated in Wadi Al-Rababa and the Tantur Pharaoh area, and other neighborhoods lost much of their lands under the name “green lands” or for the purpose of erecting the apartheid wall.
Palestinian lands and property in the town are confiscated through mechanisms, the most prominent of which are: the Absentee Property Law, or the Jews’ claim to own land in East Jerusalem before 1948, or confiscation for public needs, such as building settlement infrastructure, parks, and the like.
Demolition of homes and displacement of residents
Since 1967, the demolition of homes and the displacement of residents have become common scenes in the town, and about half of its neighborhoods are under threat of complete demolition and removal, and the most affected are 6 neighborhoods: Wadi Hilweh, Al-Bustan, Batn Al-Hawa, Wadi Yasoul, Ain Al-Lawza, and Wadi Al-Rababa, which is the case. Which puts hundreds of buildings at risk of demolition, including homes, mosques, and shops, and about 8,000 residents face the risk of displacement.
On the other hand, the occupation authorities impose severe restrictions on construction and development work, such that it is rare to issue building permits to Palestinians, who are forced due to population growth to build without a permit, and then the occupation authorities issue demolition orders, under the pretext of lack of a permit.
Restoration work affecting old houses falls within this framework. If the residents do not comply with the demolition of their homes themselves, the occupation authorities will implement the decision, and then impose heavy fines and sometimes prison sentences on them.
The occupation authorities also resort to other means to displace the population, by restricting their daily lives, such as the constant closure of roads, inspections, imposing heavy taxes, security prosecutions, and arrests, especially among young people and minors.
Settlers carry out provocative actions on an ongoing basis, by closing roads for long periods, or acting in place of police or municipal inspectors. They also investigate the tax records of commercial stores, photograph unlicensed buildings, and file demolition lawsuits against them.
The demolitions result in the displacement of residents who lost their homes, in addition to some of them being forced to leave the town due to the occupation’s restrictions. The local committee of Batn al-Hawa estimates that at least 37 families moved from the neighborhood from the beginning of 2017 until mid-2018.
United Nations data issued in March 2024 indicate that about 116 Palestinian homes are threatened with imminent demolition, that 1,550 Palestinians are at risk of forced displacement in the Al-Bustan neighborhood alone, and that the Israeli authorities are threatening to demolish the entire neighborhood and erect the Holy Basin and Biblical Gardens in its place.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, the Israeli authorities accelerated the destruction of Palestinian homes and forcibly displaced them, and also encouraged settlement expansion in East Jerusalem following October 7, 2023. The forced displacement of Palestinians resulting from home demolitions has increased by a rate of up to 30%, compared to the previous nine months. Previous.
Settlement
The town is a major target for settler organizations, in particular the Elad Association and the Ateret Cohanim Association, which are supported by the Israeli government, in addition to receiving donations worth millions of dollars from Israeli companies and Jewish supporters around the world.
The two settlement associations are active based on religious and ideological motives, and employ the laws and mechanisms of the occupation to seize Palestinian property and lands. Settlement efforts were able to settle about 3,000 Israelis in the area, which was completely devoid of them.
Two settlements were established on the lands of Silwan, the first “Ma’ale Hazitim” in 1998, and the second “Ma’alot David” in 2009, in addition to the settlers’ control over many settlement enclaves in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood, and settlement outposts, which number about 78 outposts.
In 2009, the Elad Association developed an organizational plan for the town, aiming to intensify excavation activity and transform the entire town into a tourist area. The project includes confiscating about 70% of Silwan’s land, to create open spaces, a cemetery, a public building, and a parking lot.
The town was targeted by about 10 settlement projects, going through different stages, including what has been implemented, is in the implementation stage, or is awaiting approval for its implementation. The most prominent of these projects are: the “City of David” project, the “National Park” project, the “Aerial Train” (cable car) project, and the “Bridge” project. Al-Mu’allaq” and the “Pilgrims’ Route” project.
These projects are based on the confiscation of Palestinian property, the demolition of their homes, and the displacement of them. The continuous excavations and tunnels that are built under the city also lead to severe damage to Palestinian buildings, causing collapses and ground cracks in them. They may also harm the flow of the spring’s water, and in the long run this may cause it to be cut off. Completely remote from its water sources.
The occupation authorities invent new images of settlement, including planting fake graves in Wadi al-Rababa and calling them “Samboski Cemetery,” and claiming that it is an old Jewish cemetery. The occupation also promotes Judaization policies by changing the names of neighborhoods and streets and giving them Hebrew names.
Economy
The economy in Silwan depends on several sectors, the most important of which is the Israeli labor market, which absorbs most of the workforce. Some residents also turn to other sectors, including: trade, industry, and government and private jobs. As for the agricultural sector, it has shrunk significantly due to urban expansion.
Urbanism and infrastructure
The town expanded and its population grew due to the influx of immigrants from other Palestinian areas following the Nakba in 1948 and the Nakba in 1967. The confiscation of much land in the city of Jerusalem and the confinement of residential communities to specific areas also resulted in the movement of many Jerusalemites to the nearby town of Silwan.
Population and urban growth was often related to coercive emergency conditions, which resulted in random buildings that lacked planning and infrastructure. The occupation’s racial discrimination laws also prevented urban development in Palestinian neighborhoods, prohibited the restoration of homes and improved infrastructure, and thus the town became crowded with its residents. Those who were confined to narrow, uninhabitable spaces and poor living conditions.
Highlights
The town is distinguished by its ancient history, and includes a large number of distinctive historical monuments, the most important of which are:
Ain Silwan or “Ain Umm al-Draj”: It has a distinctive religious and historical status, as it has been an Islamic endowment since the era of Caliph Othman bin Affan. Christians call it the “Eye of the Virgin,” and it is linked to the miracle of Jesus, peace be upon him. Stories say that he restored sight to a blind man after he washed his face with its water. Then this belief passed into the local Islamic heritage, and it became believed that it was a blessed eye through which he could be healed.
On the other hand, the Israelis promote that this spring is the “Gihon” spring, which was mentioned in the Torah, and they link it to the rituals of purification from “the impurity of the dead” with the ashes of the red heifer, after mixing it with the spring’s water.
In late 2022, the occupation authorities announced that Ain Silwan was considered a Jewish archaeological site, and launched an excavation project for the historic “Silwan” Pool in Jerusalem.
Umayyad palaces: It is located adjacent to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and its history dates back to the Umayyad era. Its design is based on a unified architectural style, consisting of one or two floors. In the middle of the building is an inner courtyard, surrounded by corridors, behind which are a group of rooms. The building is surrounded by a wall that takes the character of a fortification and does not contain inscriptions. And decorations.
Tantour Pharaoh: It is located south of Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is a cube-shaped shrine dug into the rock, surmounted by a Greek frieze, and above it is a dome with a representation of a lily flower open to the sky. Next to the shrine is a group of historical graves from the Greek period.
