Tzurim Valley National Park

16 September 2014

Tzurim Valley National Park was declared in 2000 on about 17 hectares of open space at the foot of the Hebrew University Mount Scopus campus. Some of the land designated for the park belongs to the Islamic Waqf land and some is privately owned by Palestinians. The park borders directly on the built-up part of the neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz to the east, and that of a-Sawaneh to the south and west.

Neither of the usual motivations for declaring national parks in Israel – unique archeological finds or natural treasures – is to be found at this site. Instead, the Nature and Parks Authority (NPA) has explained that the park was declared on this spot “in order to create geographic contiguity with Jerusalem Walls National Park”, as well as to re-create “a vantage point seen by pilgrims in antiquity” and “the agrarian culture landscape on the edge of the desert”. To this end, the NPA built terraces and planted olive trees, intended to create an “olive grove landscape formerly characteristic of the entire area”. The plan includes construction of a water reservoir inside the park, alongside a visitor center and a restaurant, as well as a playground for the children of nearby Palestinian neighborhoods. These proposed items have yet to be implemented.

The declaration of the site as a national park has political ramifications: it creates a contiguous bloc of open spaces extending from the Old City to Mount Scopus where Palestinian construction will be prohibited, and at the same time draws Israeli visitors to the area. Israeli daily Haaretz reported that, when Benny Elon served as MK on behalf of the National Unity party, he said that the park was one of “17 Jewish footholds around the Old City”, designed to surround it and prevent possible division of Jerusalem. According to Elon, these footholds include open spaces, national parks and small Jewish neighborhoods.

Al-Ibrahimiya School; a-Sawaneh neighborhood seen to left of school. Photo: Keren Manor, Activestills, 15 May 2014

In February 2004, in honor of Tu Bishvat [Jewish arbor day], East Jerusalem Development Ltd. invited the public to an olive tree planting ceremony at the national park, aimed at “making youths feel connected to Jerusalem, and getting them to visit Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, several times a year”. Since 2004, with approval from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the site has hosted a project for sifting through the soil that the Waqf dumped from the Temple Mount in 2003 in the course of extensive construction work it carried out there. Beginning in 2005, the project has been run and funded by Israeli NGO El-Ad, whose official objective is to “strengthen the Jewish bond to Jerusalem”, and it is promoted as an compelling activity for the whole family. Professional archeologists say that the sifting project, whose official objective is to salvage relics from the Jewish Temple and other important Jewish findings, is unscientific and of no real value to scholarship as the artifacts are no longer in their original site, and the particular place they came from is unclear.

A-Sawaneh neighborhood. Photo: Noga Kadman, B'Tselem, 10 Nov. 2014

The national park is an obstruction wedged in the urban continuum of the neighborhoods bordering on it and it constrains their development:

A-Sawaneh: The neighborhood is home to some 3,000 residents. The relevant urban plans in effect since 1976 have allowed for very limited construction and most of the area they designate as residential is already built-up. The large open space in the northern part of the neighborhood was not allocated for use for the benefit of the residents and that is where the national park was declared.

The plan for the park also cuts into the area occupied by al-Ibrahimiya School – a school and college that have been operating on privately owned Palestinian land since 1983. An empty lot near the school is used by the students and by residents from nearby neighborhood as a soccer field. Yet, on a number of occasions in 2011, the NPA dismantled the goal posts and the fence erected around the lot. The NPA has also attempted to prevent students’ parents from parking in the area used as the school’s parking lot. The area is located inside the declared park, and the NPA planned to turn it into a bus parking lot for park visitors. Following a petition to the High Court of Justice, the school administration reached an agreement with the NPA that leaves the soccer field out of the park, and the NPA has ceased damaging it.

Wadi al-Joz neighborhood. Photo: Noga Kadman, B'Tselem, 10 Nov. 2014

Wadi al-Joz: The neighborhood has some 17,000 Palestinian residents, who suffer from a serious shortage of land reserves for construction. The planned parts of the neighborhood have been allocated low construction percentages, contrary to its urban nature, and other parts, which entirely lack planning, are densely built. An area the size of 3.9 hectares inside the neighborhood, mostly vacant with the exception of a few houses, was incorporated into Tzurim Valley National Park. However, the NPA has yet to carry out any development activity in this area.

The park was developed to serve a target audience of Israelis and tourists, without taking into consideration the daily needs of the Palestinian residents in whose neighborhoods it was established. These residents are in desperate need of open spaces for construction and for basic recreational use. The park’s plan does not encourage Palestinian residents to walk through it, or use it recreationally: park paths do not reach the bordering Palestinian neighborhoods; a stone wall separates the park from the residential; and the section of the plan that was designed to serve the needs of the Palestinian residents (building a playground) has never been implemented.

Sources:

Bimkom, Survey of Palestinian Neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, Planning Problems and Opportunities , Information Cards 2.4 and 2.5.

Bimkom, From Public to Nations – National Parks in East Jerusalem, 2012, pp. 19-21. Emek Shaveh, From Territorial Contiguity to Historical Continuity: Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in East Jerusalem – Update 2014

Emek Shaveh, Archaeology on a Slippery Slope: Elad’s sifting project in Emek Tzurim National Park, September 2014.

Emek Shaveh, Where Are the Antiquities? National Parks between the Old City of Jerusalem and Area E1, January 2012

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Residents and police in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa. Photo by Hussam ‘Abed, B’Tselem, 29 Nov. 2016

East Jerusalem

Batan al-Hawa neighborhood, Silwan: The next target for "Judaization" of E. J’alem

The Batan al-Hawa neighborhood, in the heart of Silwan, is the setting for the most extensive expulsion in recent years in East Jerusalem. To date, eviction claims have been filed against 81 Palestinian families that have been living in Batan al-Hawa for decades. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this number reflects a third of all families under threat of dispossession on the basis ethnicity in the city. Ever since Israel annexed East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities have employed discriminatory policies against the city’s Palestinian residents, and have worked in different ways toward decreasing their number while increasing the number of Jewish residents, with a view to achieving demographic and geographic conditions that would obstruct any future attempts to question Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem. As part of these efforts, Israeli authorities have confiscated hundreds of hectares of land from the Palestinian population and built 12 neighborhoods designed exclusively for the Jewish population in the occupied area that was annexed to Israel. In terms of international law, the status of these neighborhoods is no different than that of the settlements elsewhere in the West Bank. In recent years, in addition to the housing shortage, poor or lacking infrastructure, services and government funding that affect all East Jerusalem residents, various government ministries and the Jerusalem Municipality have mobilized to help the settler organization Ateret Cohanim dispossess Palestinian families living in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, and hand over their homes to Jewish settlers. Israel’s courts have given the seal of approval to every aspect of this process, despite its being a legal justification for organized state violence in pursuit of an unlawful end – the forcible transfer of protected persons from their homes in an occupied territory. B’Tselem has undertaken a neighborhood survey, and mapped the processes underway in Batan al-Hawa. According to the survey, the neighborhood is divided into some 50 parcels, nine of which have been handed over to Ateret Cohanim, including five that are already in use by settlers. To date, Ateret Cohanim has filed eviction claims against 81 families, all living in Parcel 96 which covers 0.26 hectares in the center of the neighborhood. Most of the claims were filed over the course of 2015. The municipality has fined two more families, who live in Parcel No. 84, and issued demolition orders for parts of their homes on the grounds that they had encroached on land that belongs to the settler association. Ateret Cohanim already has possession of six buildings in the neighborhood, containing 27 housing units, most of which had been home to Palestinian families. The expulsion of these families from homes they had lived in for decades, purportedly as a measure of law enforcement, as the houses had been Jewish-owned prior to the 1948 War, would make some of the neighborhood’s residents refugees for a second time, after having already been expelled from their homes in that war. Um Naser, a neighborhood resident, by the settlement built adjacent to her home. Photo by Hussam ‘Abed, B’Tselem, 23 Nov. 2016 The government dispossession apparatus in action The Ateret Cohanim association began efforts to seize properties and establish a Jewish settlement in Batan al-Hawa in 2001. It modus operandi rests on manipulating a combination of three laws passed by Israel since 1948, which allow Jews, and Jews only, to demand that the Custodian of Absentee Property hand over ownership rights to property in the annexed area that had been owned by Jews prior to 1948, but ended up beyond the country’s borders after the war. Settlers sometimes purchase ownership rights from the Jewish heirs to the land. In other cases, aided by the state, they are given permission to manage the trusts that owned the property before 1948. They then contact the Custodian of Absentee Property who hands over the property to them. Another avenue pursued by the settlers is to have the Custodian sell them property in the neighborhoods directly. These are usually properties where Palestinians live, and the settlers file actions to have them evicted. In stark contrast to the significant efforts Israel makes to restore property to Jewish ownership, the state does not even allow Palestinians to demand restoration of property they owned in west Jerusalem prior to 1948. In 2001, the Jerusalem District Court sanctioned the decision made by the Custodian of Absentee Property to hand over to Ateret Cohanim the management of the Benvenisti Trust, a Jewish trust that operated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth Centuries. In 2002, the Custodian released to the Trust Parcels 95 and 96, where the families now facing eviction live. In 2005, the Custodian sold the association another 0.3-hectare area (Parcels 73, 75, 84 and 97), where ten more Palestinian families live. The pressure on families who live in a property the settlers want for themselves often puts them in a cruel dilemma – agree to leave in return for significant sums of money, or refuse and still risk losing the property (a very real possibility given the expulsion of other families in the neighborhood), accruing serious debt and suffering harassment. View from the west of Batan al-Hawa. Photo by Amit Gilutz, B’Tselem, 6 Dec. 2016 Tension and violence – an everyday reality The settler presence has changed the neighborhood. In addition to the hardships that come with the settlers – lawsuits, invasion of privacy, economic duress, daily harassment of residents and the resulting clashes between local youths and the settlers, often involving stone throwing – there is now an added presence of the Israel Police, the Border Police and private security guards paid for by the Ministry of Housing. They too use violence against Palestinian residents, threaten them, arrest minors and disrupt life. The stronger the hold settlers have in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, the greater the number of Palestinians directly impacted by the settler security apparatus, even without being expelled from their homes. Security guards escort settler children through the neighborhood. Photo by Sarit Michaeli, B’Tselem, 6 Dec. 2016 The end goal: “Judaization” of Jerusalem The settlement in Batan al-Hawa, advanced by Ateret Cohanim, is part and parcel of the efforts made by the authorities and settler associations to increase and cement Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City Basin: in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and the Palestinian neighborhoods that surround it. There are currently about 2,800 settlers living in some 140 buildings located in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City – an area that is home to about 100,000 Palestinians. According to figures by the NGOs Peace Now and Ir Amim, the number of settlers living in Palestinian neighborhoods in the Old City Basin has seen a 70% spike between 2009 and 2016. An increase of 39% in the number of new construction sites designated for Jews in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem has also been recorded. During this time, 68 Palestinian families were evicted in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and the Muslim Quarter, 55 of them over the last two years. According to UN figures, settler organizations have filed eviction actions against at least 180 Palestinian families throughout East Jerusalem, usually based on claims of ownership over the building and loss of protected tenant status by the Palestinian families. As a result, 818 Palestinians throughout the city, including 372 children, are facing expulsion from their homes.

11 December 2016

East Jerusalem

Al-Bustan Neighborhood – Garden of the King

Silwan’s al-Bustan neighborhood lies in Kidron Valley, between the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood and Jerusalem Walls National park to the west and Silwan’s old quarter (Silwan al-Wasta) to the east. Until 1967 residents of Silwan cultivated fruit trees in the valley. City master plan No. 9, which was to determine the conservation to development ratio in the Old City Basin, defines al-Bustan Valley as an open space where construction is prohibited. The plan allowed only the few buildings in place at the time the plan was approved in 1976. Neighborhood master plans approved over the years for parts of Silwan did not allocate land for expansion or increase building rights. As crowding worsened, Silwan residents had no choice but to build in the valley and there are now more than 90 residential structures there. The buildings, built mostly since the 1980s, were constructed without permits. Approximately 1,000 people live in this neighborhood. The residents face great difficulties because it is not officially recognized and must contend with demolition orders issued against their homes. Residents cannot build additions to their homes or new homes on their land, nor can they lay down proper infrastructure or build public facilities. An area called the Garden of the King is mentioned three times in the Old Testament. Some scholars identify it as Al-Bustan Valley. However, the exact location and nature of the biblical garden are not known and there are no archeological or other findings in al-Bustan to suggest that this is in fact the location. In 1995, the Jerusalem Tourist Development Steering Committee, established in advance of the celebrations of the city’s 3,000th anniversary, published a general plan for an “open archeological museum” in the “Valley of the King”. In November 2004, Jerusalem City Engineer Uri Shitrit issued orders to “remove unlawful construction in the Valley of the King” in order to keep the area “an open public space”, as defined by Plan No. 9 in 1976. In early 2005, the Jerusalem municipality began serving demolition orders to residents of al-Bustan, and later that year demolished the homes of two families. Following international pressure, then Mayor Uri Lupolianski postponed the demolition plans and declared that the residents would be given a chance to try to secure retroactive approval for their homes. The residents hired an Israeli planner, and filed a proposed plan for the neighborhood in 2006. Though the plan was prepared in coordination with planning authorities, it was rejected by the District Planning Committee in 2009, on the grounds that the area must remain an open space due to its important location, “landscape sensitivity” and “cultural and historical values”. Al-Bustan neighborhood. Photo: Keren Manor, Activestills, 15 May 2014 In 2009, the Jerusalem Municipality proposed that residents voluntarily relocate to Beit Hannina, in northern East Jerusalem, but they declined. In early 2010, the municipality filed a new plan which included a tourist park called King’s Valley or King’s Garden in al-Bustan Valley. The park flows directly from Jerusalem Walls National Park and acts as a quasi-extension of it. The brochure marking the launch of the plan describes a vision of “turning the King’s Garden into a flourishing park that will bloom alongside a residential neighborhood with restaurants, artist workshops, souvenir shops, local art and more […]”. The plan called for the demolition of structures in the neighborhood’s western part (at least 22), whereas structures in the eastern part (about 66) would receive retroactive approval along with increased building rights. This increase is meant to allow the residents who will be evacuated from the western side of the neighborhood to build new homes on top of existing ones in the eastern part, or on private nearby land. The plan fails to specify how this is to be implemented in practice. The plan also includes a public complex that would house a school, pre-schools, a sports center and more, as well as road, water, sewage and electrical infrastructure in the neighborhood. The municipal plan was approved by the local committee in June 2010 and awaits approval from the district committee. According to Amnon Berman, legal advisor to the Jerusalem Municipality, in September 2012 there were 35 pending demolition orders against homes in the al-Bustan neighborhood. Thirty-one of these cases were being heard in court and the execution of four other orders has been postponed as a result of a political decision. In April 2010, al-Bustan residents submitted another proposed plan for the neighborhood. In June 2011, it too was rejected on the grounds that it was not possible to advance two plans for the same area. Home in al-Bustan demolished by authorities. Photo: Ofir Feuerstein, B’Tselem 19 March 2009 The plan submitted by the municipality would legalize structures built in the neighborhood without permits. It would allow most residents to continue living in their homes without the threat of demolition and would improve infrastructure and services, thereby possibly improving conditions in the neighborhood. At the same time, the plan to relocate more than twenty families from one part of the neighborhood to another against their will is injurious and baseless given that the city has neither the authority nor the ability to build homes for these individuals on land owned by others or enable them to do so themselves. In practice, families whose homes will be demolished will have to purchase new land, if any is available, and try to meet the municipality’s strict criteria for construction permits in East Jerusalem, including a costly process of land registration. Once they lose their homes, there is no guarantee that these people will be able to find suitable housing inside their neighborhood or, for that matter, elsewhere. Sources for further reading Bimkom, Survey of Palestinian Neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, Planning Problems and Opportunities, Information Card 2.9. Bimkom, From Public to National – National Parks in East Jerusalem, 2012, pp. 26-28. Ir-Amim, The Giant’s Garden - The "King's Garden" Plan in al-Bustan, update, May 2012. Emek Shaveh, From Territorial Contiguity to Historical Continuity: Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in East Jerusalem – Update 2014

16 September 2014

East Jerusalem

Jerusalem Walls National Park

A national park to include areas of East Jerusalem was first declared in 1974. This would be Jerusalem Walls Park, spanning an area of roughly 110 hectares, more than half of it in East Jerusalem. The park encircles the Old City walls and includes extensive populated areas of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan. Local master plan no. 6, approved by the Jerusalem Municipality in 1970, designated this land for a national park designed to preserve "the character and nature of the area, by preserving the landscape as well as historical, national, religious, traditional, archeological and architectural values, picturesque ensembles and landscape values […] and also development and cultivation of the area so as to offer the general public the comfort and convenience necessary for conducting tours and spending time in the area". In articulating these goals, the city planners ignored the fact that this was the only national park whose land includes densely populated residential neighborhoods, as well as industrial, commercial and recreational areas. The park encompasses nearly all of the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood in Silwan, south of the Old City walls. Wadi Hilwa is home to approximately 4,000 residents who living in more than 700 residential units in over 250 buildings. The City of David archeological site, which includes the ancient city of Jerusalem, is located in the very heart of the neighborhood. Designating this area as a national park creates a direct conflict between preservation requirements and the population’s need for construction and development, which cannot be met due to the planning limitations entailed by the declaration of the park. In a meeting on this issue held at the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2003, Architect Uri Shitrit, Jerusalem City Engineer at the time, recognized these difficulties, stating that, “Construction and planning laws are in constant conflict with the National Parks Law inside the national park. There’s a real problem with the management of a national park […] versus the need to ensure continued urban development as well as maintenance of a vibrant and sound city life in the Old City and its environs”. Wadi Hilwa in Silwan, incorporated in national park. Photo: Keren Manor, Activestills, 15 May 2014 Because of the park’s unique location, and unlike its conduct with regard to other national parks located inside the jurisdiction of a municipality, the Nature and Parks Authority has delegated powers to the Jerusalem Municipality that allow it to operate and develop the park. Consequently, this park is jointly run by the two bodies. The City of David site was kept out of this agreement and the Nature and Parks Authority was to retain exclusive authority over its administration. However, , ever since 1997 the City of David site has been run by an Israeli NGO called El-Ad (acronym for “To the City of David” in Hebrew), making it the only national park in Israel to be operated by an organization whose aim is to promote a particular ideology. The decision to entrust the City of David to El-Ad was made contrary to the position of the Israel Antiquities Authority, namely that the site should be operated by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. El-Ad operates the visitor center in the heart of the Wadi Hilwa neighborhood and funds excavations in various locations in Wadi Hilwa. El-Ad has also initiated a plan for the Kedem Center, a tourist compound for the entire national park and the Old City. Construction of the center was approved in April 2014 and El-Ad is slated to run it. El-Ad also engages in acquiring houses and lots in Silwan and installing Jewish inhabitants there. El-Ad does so in pursuit of its goal of “strengthening the Jewish bond to Jerusalem”. Since the 1990s El-Ad and other organizations have arranged for 60 Jewish settler families, totaling some 300 individuals, move into the neighborhood. El-Ad has also submitted a plan for building 200 residential units near the City of David site. The plan was rejected. Wadi Hilwa: No planning coupled with ban on construction Local master plan no. 9, approved by the Jerusalem Municipality in 1976, two years after the national park was declared, zones the entire area of Wadi Hilwa as “special open area”. The plan prohibits any construction of residential or public buildings in the area. Any other activity or use of the area requires special approval from the municipal planning authorities. The plan exempted existing structures, but allowed their expansion only for the purpose of improving sanitation. In contrast, the plan zones the neighborhood of Yemin Mosheh, also located within the national park but inside the Green Line, as a “special residential area”, allowing construction of residential and public buildings, subject to preservation considerations and design of the area. In his book, published in 1973, Arieh Sharon, the head of the planning team that prepared Plan no. 9, described Wadi Hilwa as an “unremarkable neighborhood with many ugly houses”, that sprang up in an area of great archeological importance. Sharon argued that evacuating and then resettling residents of the neighborhood would be too costly. He therefore suggested that the neighborhood be liquidated over time, as part of a long term policy that would not authorize construction of new buildings and would gradually purchase lots and resettling families in other areas. In practice, the Jerusalem Municipality does not evict families from Wadi Hilwa, but neither does it allow lawful construction in the neighborhood. Owing to this policy, almost all construction in the neighborhood, including tourism facilities and the settlers’ dwellings, has been carried out without permits. Residents suffer from a severe shortage of residential and public buildings. The neighborhood has only one girls’ school – it is run by UNRWA and serves as both elementary and junior high school, one private boys’ school (elementary school, two classes) and one private pre-school. The vast majority of the neighborhood’s children are obliged to go to other neighborhoods to attend schools. Wadi Hilwa has no medical clinics, post offices or public parks. Over the years, residents have attempted to promote building plans that would allow construction in the neighborhood, but all were rejected. Since 1967, hundreds of Wadi Hilwa’s residents have been convicted of building unlawfully and ordered to pay fines ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of shekels. According to figures obtained by B’Tselem, since 2006, the Jerusalem Municipality has demolished a total of 15 homes in Silwan, including in Wadi Hilwa. February 2012 saw the first time the Nature and Parks Authority demolished a structure in the neighborhood - a community center and a playground funded by the neighborhood’s residents themselves and built on private land owned by a Silwan resident. The site was used by approximately 300 children for sporting and social activities. Since no other public spaces are available in the neighborhood, it was also the venue for public events. In 2007, the Jerusalem Municipality initiated a master plan for the Wadi Hilwa area and the slopes of Mount Zion. The plan was prepared without involving the Palestinian residents. On the other hand, El-Ad was made party to the planning process and even contributed funds to it. The plan designates 70% of the area for parking lots, parks, and antiquity sites, as well as the preservation of open spaces, in an effort to further develop tourism in accordance with area’s purported objectives. The plan includes the first ever proposal to zone land inside the neighborhood for residential purposes, giving retroactive approval to most of the existing buildings, both Palestinians’ and settlers’. The plan, however, offers no solution for the residents’ other needs, either now or in the future. While the Israel Nature and Parks Authority does admit that, “the current situation, wherein thousands of residents live in hundreds of unregulated structures is intolerable on every level”, it argues that “allocating areas inside a national park for residential use […] may attract new plans for construction inside this and other national parks”. To advance this plan, some areas must re-designated so as to fall outside the national park in a process open to veto by many actors, including the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Environmental Protection and the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. However, this was not done and though the plan was approved by the local committee in November 2007, it was not moved forward since and was officially shelved in March 2014. Tourism Development in Wadi Hilwa/The City of David From 2005 to 2013, the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality budgeted a total of more than half a billion shekels for the “restoration, development and maintenance of the Old City and Mount of Olives Mount basin”. In May 2012, the government budgeted an additional 350 million shekels [approx. 100 million USD] for “continued development of public-tourist space in Jerusalem” in 2013-2019. A portion of these funds is used to develop tourism in Silwan, including budgetary funds the Ministry of Tourism transfers to El-Ad. Development of tourism in the neighborhood is harmful to its residents, disrupting their daily lives. Owing to construction of the visitor center and the various excavation sites in the very heart of Wadi Hilwa have resulted in inaccessibility to residents of some 25% of its open spaces. Entry to these areas involves a security check, and in some cases, a fee. Unlike other national parks in close proximity to residential areas, Wadi Hilwa residents do not have free access to the City of David site. The City of David visitor center compound was built in an area that has a number of Palestinian houses. Residents suffer from litter left behind by visitors, the spotlights used at the site at night, and parking problems. Hundreds of tourists arrive at the center every day in buses which cause traffic congestion in the narrow streets of the crowded neighborhood. On occasion, the visitor center also hosts special events, and traffic is not permitted on adjacent streets as part of security measures for the event. The security arrangements instituted for the benefit of the settlers and the tourist sites include the installation of dozens of surveillance cameras in the neighborhood. Additionally, dozens of armed security guards, carrying loud communication devices, were posted there with Ministry of Housing funding. The cameras violate residents’ privacy and the presence of security guards and settlers results in friction and conflict with the Palestinian residents, including children. In 2008, Israeli authorities decided on a 30-million-shekel infrastructure development project in the neighborhood to facilitate visitor access to tourist sites and to make its streets more attractive. The plan included new traffic arrangements, expansion and paving of sidewalks, building parking lots on 13 lots owned by Palestinians in the neighborhood, restoration of house facades, as well as sewage and electrical projects. Because the neighborhood has no master plan, authorities began carrying out the project without building permits and without giving public notice of the plan, as required by law, thereby denying residents the opportunity to review the plan and voice their views on it. Implementation would likely have exacerbated traffic congestion in the neighborhood, and cancelled hundreds of parking spaces along the streets, forcing residents to park in distant parking lots accessible by steep roads, or in lots close to the tourist sites, which are filled with visitors’ vehicles during the day. The decision to convert vacant lots in the neighborhoods into parking lots blatantly disregards the residents’ pressing need for educational facilities and other public buildings, as well as their need for public parks. In July 2011, following a petition to the District Court – filed on behalf of Wadi Hilwa residents by Israeli human rights NGO Bimkom and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel – and a subsequent to an appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the District Court’s ruling, the Supreme Court instructed the state to re-examine traffic arrangements and dismantle the additions that had been built without permits. As of June 2014, the previous situation has not been restored. An appeal filed by residents against the municipality’s decision to build parking lots in open spaces in the neighborhood was dismissed by the Supreme Court in December 2011. Entrance to Pool of Siloam. Photo: Keren Manor, Activestills, 15 May 2014 Archeological excavations in open spaces and under houses El-Ad finances the archeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority in various parts of Wadi Hilwa. The digs take place in the neighborhood’s few remaining open spaces, which are then sealed off to residents in a manner that excludes them and bolsters Israeli presence in the area. A path used by residents of Silwan’s al-Bustan neighborhood to reach the mosque and the pre-school they use in Wadi Hilwa was closed off due to the excavation at the Shiloah Pool, (also known as the Pool of Siloam). The path was incorporated into the tourist site which charges a fee for access. Um a-Daraj/Gihon Spring, located in one of the few open spaces in the neighborhood, had traditionally served as a recreational spot for local residents, but they have been unable to access it since 1995, when an archeological dig (Beit Ha’Ma’ayan) began at the site. In January 2014, El-Ad submitted a plan for a tourist center at there, despite the fact that the area is not part of the City of David compound. The plan includes retroactive approval for a large structure – already in use by El-Ad for tourism – built without a permit on top of the excavation, additions to existing structures and preparing land for tourism in the area. In addition to the excavations in open spaces in the neighborhood, horizontal tunnels are being dug in Silwan, partly running under the homes of Palestinian residents, and without their consent. According to experts, archeologists abandoned the practice of digging horizontal tunnels as long as a century ago. It is considered professionally unethical and actually leads to the destruction of antiquities. Palestinian families living above these excavation sites report damage to their property, including cracks in the walls, floors caving in and sinkholes in the roads. The tunnels are designed to be used by visitors as underground archeological trails leading from the Shiloah Pool, through Givati Parking Lot to the Western Wall compound and from the visitor center to the Givati Parking Lot. These underground tours frame the connection between the City of David and the Old City in terms that create an illusion of an exclusively Jewish space without a trace of the region’s Palestinian residents and their history. It stands to reason that El-Ad presents the findings unearthed in the excavations in a way influenced by its ideology. El-Ad presents a historical account of ancient Jerusalem that highlights the First Temple period and attempts to link the findings to the biblical story of King David. This link, a matter of controversy among archeologists, is framed as proof of the historic right of the Jewish people – and the State of Israel – to the area. El-Ad shapes public consciousness of the site as exclusively Jewish, minimizing the importance of the city to other religions and cultures. It makes little reference to either archeological findings that do not fit its narrative or the Palestinian neighborhood and its residents. In so doing, the national park becomes another tool for promoting El-Ad’s goals. Kedem Center. Photo: Keren Manor, Activestills, 15 May 2014 The Kedem Center – Givati Parking Lot The place known as Givati Parking Lot is an open space located across from the City of David visitor center, near the road that encircles the Old City walls. The Jerusalem Municipality began using the space as a parking lot in the 1970s, following an agreement with its owner. The lot was subsequently officially expropriated. Local residents used the lot for parking, sports activities and events until excavations began there in 2003. Sometime after that, El-Ad purchased the land from its Palestinian owner. Although, formally, the area was appropriated by the Jerusalem Municipality, the municipality ignores it and is uninvolved in what is done on that site. In 2009, El-Ad proposed a plan for a large tourist center at the excavation site. The Nature and Parks Authority then became a party to submitting plan. The plan includes construction of a seven-story building, almost as tall as the Old City walls. This contravenes the planning provisions of the national park, which include the instruction not to build structures that would “compete” with the walls. The proposed building, to be named the Kedem Center, will include an archeological exhibit, a tourist section, a parking lot and underground tunnels leading to the Western Wall and the City of David. El-Ad is to run the center, even though it is not part of the City of David compound which is under the organization’s charge. The Kedem Center is designed to serve as the main tourist route for the entire area, with the aim of significantly increasing the number of visitors. The Jerusalem District Planning Committee of the Ministry of Interior discussed the plan at a meeting in February 2012. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who attended the committee’s meeting, said: “The City’s goal is to lay down the infrastructure to accommodate about ten million visitors per year” and “The Kedem Center plays a large and important role in creating this infrastructure, given its convenient location in a central part of the national park and the ancient city and the high quality of the site itself […]”. The committee approved the plan, despite the universal prohibition on construction in the area and despite the great proximity to the Old City walls, which the Jerusalem Walls National Park is designed to protect. In May 2012, the government announced the establishment of a museum and academic center devoted to the Old Testament inside the Kedem Center to be named “The Bible Hall”. The Kedem Center project is a source of controversy among archeologists. It was advanced through a questionable planning process and without any discussion about the needs of the local residents. In October 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the plan to be deposited for objections. His decision to promote the Mount Scopus Slopes National Park - another tourism project designed to strengthen the Jewish foothold in Palestinian areas in Jerusalem – was announced at the same time. These decisions, like other decisions to promote various building plans intended to serve Jewish communities beyond the Green Line, were made public immediately after Israel released Palestinian prisoners, in an effort to appease right wing discontent over the release. Several objections were filed after the plan was deposited, including one by a number of public figures. Nevertheless, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee approved plan was in April 2014, subject to certain conditions, including that the structure not extend above the level of the upper road by the foot of the wall. According to plan, the Kedem Center was to cover an area of 1.6 hectares, an area that could have been used to build the public facilities so desperately needed by Silwan residents. The center will deliberately overshadow the Palestinian neighborhood surrounding it, expand Israeli access to Silwan and Israeli presence in the neighborhood, and will also bolster El-Ad’s standing in the area. Situating the center directly at the northern entrance to Wadi Hilwa may result in even greater traffic congestion and impede residents’ access to their homes. The presence of the compound would boost the image of the neighborhood as an archeological tourist site, while Palestinian presence there is ignored. In June 2014, the NGO Emek Shaveh: Archeology in the Shadow of Conflict appealed the plan’s approval. In June 2015, the sub-committee of the National of the National Planning and Construction Committee responded to the appeal. The sub-committee okayed the plan for a visitor center in the area, but ruled its size should be reduced by half. The sub-committee also made a precedential ruling that the construction permit would be subject to the publication of a conservation plan the Antiquities Authority would prepare once the excavation at the site is completed, so that the public can respond. The sub-committee returned the plan for the Kedem Center to the District Committee. Harm to other neighborhoods Abu Tur: The Jerusalem Municipality uses the Year 2000 Jerusalem Master Plan as a guideline for city planning, despite the fact that it has not yet gone into effect (See also here). Israeli NGO Bimkom has uncovered an earlier version of the plan, which allocates more lands to the Jerusalem Walls National Park than does Plan No. 6. The additional area includes a bloc of 2 hectares bordering the built-up part of the Abu Tur neighborhood. A few years ago, the Nature and Parks Authority built a scenic observation post there, despite the fact that it was not officially part of the national park. In December 2011, the Jerusalem Municipality demolished an agricultural structure on the site and uprooted about ten old olive trees. The director of the Jerusalem District at the Nature and Parks Authority was present at the demolition. Abu Tur, a densely built neighborhood, has no remaining land reserves for development. The site in question is particularly suitable for public use by neighborhood residents, either as a school or as a public park, since the terrain is flat and adjacent to the main road. However, the apparent plan to incorporate this land into the national park may obstruct this possibility. Wadi al-Joz: The Jerusalem Walls National Park covers an area of 5.6 hectares, not immediately adjacent to the Walls, in the south-east part of the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood. Local residents use this area for a market and for parking. There are also a number of residential buildings located three. The fact that the area is defined as a national park precludes further building and development there, despite local residents' pressing need for land to build on. The neighborhood has planned areas with a small percentage of building allocation and unplanned areas that are built densely. Sources: Bimkom, East Jerusalem Survey (updated Hebrew version). Bimkom, From Public to Nations – National Parks in East Jerusalem, 2012, pp. 14-21. Bimkom, Expert Opinion on Planning, in AP 8938/08 Salim Siam v. Jerusalem Municipality, July 2009 [Hebrew]. Emek Shaveh, From Territorial Contiguity to Historical Continuity: Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in East Jerusalem – Update 2014 (see section on Kidron) Emek Shaveh, Remaking the City: Archaeological Projects of Political Import in Jerusalem’s Old City and in the Village of Silwan [Hebrew original published November 2013]. Emek Shaveh, Another Future for Antiquities, Conservation of Antiquities Sites: Suggestions towards a Partial Solution of Jerusalem’s Political Problems [Hebrew original published November 2013]. Emek Shaveh, From Silwan to the Temple Mount: Archaeological Excavations as a Means of Control in the Village of Silwan and in Jerusalem’s Old City – Developments in 2012 [Hebrew original published February 2013]. Emek Shaveh, “Beit Haliba” and the Givati Parking Lot Archeological Excavations and their Effect on the Status Quo in the Old City of Jerusalem and in Silwan [Hebrew original published February 2013]. Emek Shaveh, Where Are the Antiquities? National Parks between the Old City of Jerusalem And Area E1 [Hebrew original published January 2012]. Emek Shaveh, Archaeology in the shadow of the conflict: The Mound of Ancient Jerusalem (City of David) in Silwan [Hebrew original published 2009]. Emek Shaveh, Elad's Settlement in Silwan [Hebrew original published 2007]. Ir Amim, From Holyland to Kedem – Under the Auspices of the Authorities – El-Ad’s Plans for a Colossal Compound, December 2013 [Hebrew]. Ir Amim, Objection to Plan for Kedem Center, December 2013 [Hebrew]. Ir Amim, Jerusalem 2012: A Snapshot. Developments in East Jerusalem and their political ramifications, June 2013 [Hebrew]. Ir Amim, Shady Dealings in Silwan, May 2009.

16 September 2014