Silwan

In 2016, Haaretz reported that the Israeli government and the settler organization Ateret Cohanim were working together to evict Palestinians living on property classified as heqdesh, especially in the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan.

[9] Built on the southern ridge of the Mount of Olives, Silwan slopes steeply from approximately 700–600 metres (2,300–2,000 ft) above sea level, until it reaches the Kidron Valley, which bounds it in the west.

[10] The village was built next to numerous water sources of historical importance, such as the Pool of Siloam (Ain Silwan), Gihon Spring and Ein Rogel.

[15] The King's Garden was used as a staging area for Jewish pilgrims who, during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, used the spring-fed Pool of Siloam to wash and ritually purify themselves before ascending the monumental stepped street to the Temple Mount while singing hymns based on Psalms.

[23][24] A pool and church were built at Siloam by the Byzantine empress Eudocia (c. 400–460 CE) to commemorate Jesus' miraculous healing of the blind.

According to one resident's version of the story, the Greeks were so impressed that the Caliph entered on foot while his servant rode on a camel that they presented him with the key to the city.

The Caliph thereafter granted the wadi to "Khan Silowna," an agricultural community of cave dwellers living in ancient rock-cut tombs along the face of the eastern ridge.

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.

[29] In 1834, during a large-scale peasants' rebellion against Ibrahim Pasha,[30] thousands of rebels infiltrated Jerusalem through ancient underground sewage channels leading to the farm fields of the village of Silwan.

[42] In books published between 1888 and 1911, travellers describe the valley floor as verdant and cultivated,[43][44] with the stony village perched along the top of the eastern ridge hillside.

[46] The village of Silwan was located on the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, above the outlet of the Gihon Spring opposite Wadi Hilweh.

The villagers cultivated the arable land in the Kidron Valley, which in biblical tradition formed the king's gardens during the Davidic dynasty,[14] to grow vegetables for market in Jerusalem.

[53] In the same year, Baron Edmond de Rothschild bought several acres of land there and transferred it to the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association.

[54] By the time of the 1931 census, Silwan had 630 occupied houses and a population of 2968; 2,553 Muslims, 124 Jews and 91 Christians (the last including the Latin, Greek and St. Stephens convents).

[57][58] According to documents in the custodian office and real estate and project advancement expert Edmund Levy, the homes of the Yemenite Jews were occupied by Arab families without registering ownership.

The Ir David Foundation and the Ateret Cohanim organizations are promoting resettlement of Jews in the neighborhood in cooperation with the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Village in Shiloah.

[69] Wadi Hilweh, an area of Silwan close to the southern wall of the Old City, and its neighborhood of al-Bustan, has been ever since a focus of Jewish settlement.

[73] In other cases, the Jewish National Fund signed protected tenant agreements that enabled construction to proceed without a tender process.

[78] In 2008 a plan was submitted for a building complex including a synagogue, 10 apartments, a kindergarten, a library and underground parking for 100 cars in a location 200 meters from the Old City walls.

[79] Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, which changed its name to T'ruah in 2012, accused Elad of creating 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.

Overnight on September 30, 2014, at 1:30 am, settlers, supported by police officers and reportedly connected to the Ir David Foundation, commonly known as Elad, entered 25 houses in 7 buildings[82] which previously belonged to several Palestinian families in the neighborhood, in what was the largest Israeli purchase of homes in Silwan since 1986.

Details concerning the process whereby the properties were purchased are lacking, but Palestinian middle men appear to be involved,[84] buying the six houses, and then selling them to a private American company, Kendall Finance.

[85] As those who sell land to Israelis may be sentenced to death by the PA, the son of one Palestinian family who sold his property has fled Jerusalem, in fear for his life.

[87] White House spokesman Josh Earnest, in a condemnation of the takeover, described the new occupants as "individuals who are associated with an organization whose agenda, by definition, stokes tensions between Israelis and Palestinians."

[85] On June 15, 2016, Jerusalem's City Hall approved the construction of a three-storey residential house for Jews wishing to make Silwan their home.

[88] A ruling handed down by the Jerusalem Magistrats Court in January 2020 gave a substantial boost to efforts by the settler organization Ateret Cohanim to evict large numbers of Palestinians in Silwan from their homes.

[91] In December 2011, a board member of the Jewish National Fund's US fundraising arm resigned in protest after a 20-year legal process came to a head with an order for the eviction of a Palestinian family from a JNF-owned home.

[96][97] On 9 January 2022, following receipt of an opinion stating "there is no objection to the expulsion" from Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, a decision by the Supreme Court is awaited.

[100] In 2005, the Israeli government planned to demolish 88 Arab homes in al-Bustan neighborhood built without permits[101] but they were not found illegal in a municipal court.

[113] The National-Religious Jewish settlers' organisation, ElAd, was accused of excavating on Palestinian property[114][115] and beginning its work on the City of David tunnels before receiving a permit from the Jerusalem Municipality.