Ongoing ethnic cleansing: Home demolitions, expulsion and dispossession in Silwan
The Silwan area, located south of the Old City of Jerusalem and annexed to the city’s municipal boundaries, is home to some 20,000 Palestinian residents. Its unique location next to the Old City, near al-Aqsa Mosque for Palestinians and the Temple Mount for Jews, puts it at the forefront of the Israeli regime’s campaign of dispossession and displacement in Jerusalem, as part of a broader plan to cleanse the area of its Palestinian residents and Judaize the neighborhoods surrounding the Old City. This plan is actualized through several racist mechanisms, including discriminatory legislation such as the Absentee Property Law and various municipal by-laws; the deliberate absence of detailed planning schemes for construction in Palestinian neighborhoods; and designation of land as national parks or other national projects in order to justify the dispossession. In Silwan, joint efforts by settler organizations and state authorities to Judaize the area are focused on three projects currently underway: excavation of the so-called Herodian Street, demolition of homes in al-Bustan neighborhood, and eviction of residents from Baten al-Hawa.
This entry is original published by btselem.
