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Above: A map showing the area of Silwan threatened with demolition and settlement expansion, including an indicator of the area in which settlements already exist. As highlighted on the map, Silwan as well as the adjacent villages of Tur and Ras Al Amud will be on the western side of the Wall, as Jerusalem is being isolated from the rest of the West Bank, in the Occupation’s continued plans to control the city. With most of Jerusalem outside the Walled-in areas, it is expected that the Apartheid Wall and therefore the isolation and ghettoization of Jerusalem, will act as a springboard for increasing land confiscation, settlement expansion and expulsion in the area.

“Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.” (George Orwell, 1984)

Historically, Jerusalem began as a small village where the Palestinian village of Silwan sits today. Currently, Silwan has a population of over 45,000 Palestinians. Underneath their homes and ragged streets lie the remnants of 5000 years of glorious nations who lived there.

Silwan is located in East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967. Since then, behind the Zionist claim of reconnecting with the ancient heritage of the Jews, the truth is, archaeology has become a weapon of dispossession of Palestinians. Archaeological excavations are being carried out as part of a concerted campaign to expel them from their ancestral home and history.

In an unprecedented act, the state of Israel has handed over the responsibility of the archaeological site to ELAD - an Israeli religious settlers’ gang whose proclaimed purpose is the takeover of Silwan. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) financed by ELAD’s $10 million yearly budget is excavating under the houses of Silwan’s residents, without informing them about it and ignoring their property rights. In fact, ELAD has used a variety of means to evict East Jerusalem Palestinians from their homes and replace them with Jewish settlers.

Silwan is one of the Jerusalem neighborhoods most threatened with Judaization as a result of continuous settler attacks and occupation of its houses. Just last year in Silwan, in March 2004, settlers occupied two buildings that together are comprised of 12 flats. These can be added to the houses and lands in Silwan already taken over by settlers during previous years, a large part of which are located in Wadi Hilwa, which overlooks Bustan and is adjacent to the Old City. The settlements in Silwan - caravans and occupied houses - are located in the middle of the neighborhood, and are as well located very near to one another, making clear their function of ultimately turning the entire neighborhood into a settlement.

In April 2005, the Occupation Forces and its municipality in Jerusalem declared its plan to demolish some 122 houses in both the areas of Bustan and Wadi Hilwa. Demolishing these houses is part of the Occupation’s plan to “evacuate” and expropriate all lands surrounding the Old City, in the closest hills and mountains surrounding the Old City that include Tur, Silwan and Abu Tur, along with other areas. The planned settlements are to also include car parks, recreational and commercial areas. Source: stopthewall.org

Today, all the green areas in the densely populated neighborhood of Silwan have been transformed into archaeological sites, which have then been fenced and posted with armed guards. Some of these ‘archaeological sites’ have been transformed to homes for the Jewish settlers.

ELAD has made it clear that they want the land without the people and their history. In fact, Elda is now trying to hide the history as reported here:

Dozens of skeletons from the early Islamic period were discovered during excavations near the Temple Mount, on a site slated for construction by a right-wing Jewish organization. Contrary to regulations, the skeletons were removed, and were not reported to the Ministry of Religious Services. The Israel Antiquities Authority termed the incident ‘a serious mishap’.”

The IAA’s Dr. Doron Ben Ami is directing the excavations at the Givati parking lot in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, across from the entrance to the Dung Gate. ELAD, an association devoted to Judaizing East Jerusalem, is funding the dig at the site, where it plans to build an events hall with underground parking. The IAA is excavating there even though ELAD never filed building plans with the planning authorities.

In recent weeks, workers excavating at a depth of two to three meters reached a layer from the 8th or 9th century A.D., some 200 years after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. They discovered several dozen skeletons, skulls and bone fragments, thought to date from the early Islamic period. An IAA source said there were ‘dozens of crates’ containing bone fragments that were removed, which suggests at least 100 skeletons were found.

IAA regulations require that any graves discovered be reported immediately to the Religious Services Ministry and to Atra Kadisha, an ultra-Orthodox organization dedicated to preserving ancient Jewish gravesites. For some reason this discovery was not reported, and the skeletal remains were carted away before ministry officials arrived to inspect the site. The ministry learned of the discovery only two weeks later, following inquiries by Haaretz.

Nor have the Muslim religious authorities been notified, even though the skeletons are thought to belong to a Muslim community.

An archaeologist who worked at the IAA expressed surprise at the manhandling of skeletons discovered less than a hundred meters from Al Aqsa mosque. “The moment a digger comes across bones, he must stop immediately and inform his supervisors,” he said, adding that IAA director Shuka Dorfman has threatened to fire anyone who fails to report the discovery of bones.

The IAA refused to explain the ‘serious mishap’, but said Dorfman ‘accepts responsibility’ for it.

Another archaeologist familiar with excavations in Jerusalem lamented the lost opportunity to learn more about the city’s past: “This was not a regular cemetery, since then they would also have found many tombstones. It may have been a private burial site, perhaps a mass grave following an epidemic or war, but in any case it is a very important discovery that could shed light on life in Jerusalem in that period. It’s a scandal they destroyed it.” Source: Haaretz.

It is not surprising that none of the Zionist archaeologists findings will be highlighted for the public if any proof of the Muslim rule comes to light. They are looking only for Jewish ruins as if Muslims (and others) were never there.

Although ELAD denies their intention of driving out Silwan’s Palestinians, they still do not deny that they have a Zionist dream to reveal only a Jewish ancient city beneath the ground and create a Jewish neighborhood above the ground.

History is pulsing through Jerusalem, reeling off the names of history’s giants, nations and religions associated with the city - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So what gives the right for Zionists to claim it as Jewish only land for any reason other than their racist ideology?

Amihai Mazar, a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the site has already revealed important details of Jerusalem’s history. He mentioned the discovery of massive Canaanite fortifications 3,700 years old and of thousands of fish bones indicating the diet favored in this landlocked city on the desert’s edge.

In spite of that, ELAD runs a visitors ‘ center which offers a highly one-sided, Zionist version of the history of Silwan. At the entrance, visitors to the site receive a propaganda pamphlet embodying a distorted historical narrative in a relentless process of turning Silwan into an area that seems to have a history that is Jewish alone, and will return to that state. At the same time, they are dispossessing many of the Palestinian residents to do just that .

A grass-roots protest in the neighborhood, including an appeal to the Israel Supreme Court, has met with violent suppression by the police, including the harassment and repeated arrests of the signatories to the appeal. On March 17, 2008, the Court issued a restraining order against ELAD and temporarily halted further extension of the digging.

In Silwan, sadly, archaeology -and the Israel Antiquities Authority - are being openly exploited for purely Zionist purposes that include the removal of innocent civilians from their homes.

In recent weeks, university professors and lecturers from all over the world have been signing a petition aiming at stopping using archaeology against the residents of Silwan. The petition calls to stop ELAD from exploiting archaeology for their Zionist dreams. It is still possible to sign the petition. You can find it here:
http://www.alt-arch.org/signpetition.html

On Wednesday, the 18th of June, 2008 at 11 a.m., there will be a hearing in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem regarding the archaeological excavations under the houses of the Silwan. If you can make it, your presence is important!

References:

- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988803.html
- http://counterpunch.org/bronner04112008.html
- http://imeu.net/news/article008427.shtml
- http://stopthewall.org/photos/947.shtml
- http://www.alt-arch.org/index.html

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