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Shady Dealings in Silwan
May 2009
27 King George St. P.O. Box 2239 Jerusalem 94581| Tel 02-6222858| Fax 02-6233696
ir-amim.org.il| mail@ir-amim.org.il
Ir Amim for an Equitable and Stable Jerusalem
with an Agreed Political Future
Writing and research: Meron Rapoport
Editing: Ehud Tagari
Editing Assistance: Orly Noy| Yudith Oppenheimer
Translation: Shoshana London Sappir
English Editing: Ela Greenberg| Sarah Kreimer| Ilana Sichel
Steering Committee: Adv. Daniel Seidemann| Prof. Elchanan Reiner
Maps: Adv. Daniel Seidemann
Design: Gama Design
Ir Amim (
“City of Nations”or“City of Peoples”) is an Israeli non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in order to actively engage in those issues impacting on Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem and on the political future of the city. Ir Amim works to render Jerusalem a more sustainable and equitable city, while promoting the conditions for a more stable political future.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Why Silwan?
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Chapter 1: Historical background
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Chapter 2: The struggle over the lands of Silwan
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2.1 Background
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2.2 The Custodian of Absentee Property
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2.3 Dubious purchases in Silwan
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2.4 Settlement in national parks
2.4.1 Control above ground
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2.4.2 Control under ground
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2.4.3 Pulling the land out from under the residents’feet
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Chapter 3: Archaeology and historic memory
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3.1 Whom do the salvage excavations salvage?
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3.2 Rewriting historic memory
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3.3 Military study tours: at Elad’s expense
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Chapter 4: On the way to Disneyland: the future Silwan as an archaeological amusement park 31
Chapter 5: The second annexation of East Jerusalem
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Conclusion
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Appendix 1: The settlers’“private police:”life under the watch of security cameras
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Appendix 2: The refusal of the Ministry of Justice to reveal Elad’s financial sources
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Appendix 3: A private organization as an arm of government: the case of Elad
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Appendix 4: The responses of the public institutions mentioned in the report
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