Gilo

File:Viewfromgilo.jpg

Image:Tunnel to Gush Etzion.jpg

Gilo is located on a hilltop in southwestern East Jerusalem separated from Beit Jala by a deep gorge. The Tunnels Highway to Gush Etzion runs underneath it on the east, and the settlement of Har Gilo is visible on the adjacent peak. Beit Safafa and Sharafat are located north of Gilo, while Bethlehem is to the South.{{Cite web|url=https://likoed.nl/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107231948/http://www.likud.nl/extr208.html|url-status=dead|title=Het conflict Palestijnen – Israël|archivedate=January 7, 2009|website=Likoed Nederland}}

{{Main|Giloh}}

A site dating to the period of Israelite settlement during Iron Age I (1200 – 1000 BCE) was identified and excavated at the modern site of Gilo. The site revealed a small planned settlement with dwellings along the perimeter of the site, together with pottery dating to the twelfth century BC.Mazar, Amihai, (1994) “The Iron Age I” in Ben-Tor, Amnon (Ed.), “The Archaeology of Ancient Israel”, pp. 286–295, Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-05919-1}} The southern part of the Iron Age site at Gilo is believed to be one of the earliest Israelite sites from this period. The site was surrounded by a defensive wall and divided into large yards, possibly sheep pens, with houses at the edges. Buildings at the site are amongst the earliest examples of the pillared four room house characteristic of Iron Age Israelite architecture, featuring a courtyard divided by stone pillars, a rectangular back room and rooms along the courtyard. The foundations of a structure built of large stones were also uncovered, possibly a fortified defense tower.

The biblical town of Giloh is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 15:51) and the Book of Samuel (II Sam 15:12).{{Cite web|url=http://www.hatzola.org.il/gilo.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227125402/http://www.hatzola.org.il/gilo.asp|url-status=dead|title=Gilo & Har Choma|archivedate=February 27, 2007}} Some scholars believe that biblical Giloh was located in the central Hebron Hills, whereas the name of the modern settlement was chosen because of its proximity to Beit Jala, possibly a corruption of Giloh.

During the construction of the modern suburb of Gilo, archaeologists discovered a fortress and agricultural implements from the period of the First Temple period above the shopping center on Rehov Haganenet. Between Givat Canada and Gilo Park, they unearthed the remains of a farm and graves from the Second Temple period. Roman and Byzantine remains have also been found at various sites.{{cite web|url=http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/site_form_atar_eng.asp?site_id=2246&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197|title=Jerusalem neighborhoods|website=jerusalem.muni.il|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409055909/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/site_form_atar_eng.asp?site_id=2246&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197|archive-date=9 April 2011}}

File:Gilo 1 sept 2023.jpg

According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from several Palestinian villages/towns in order to construct Gilo:

• 1,529 dunams from Sharafat and Beit Safafa,[http://vprofile.arij.org/jerusalem/pdfs/vprofile/beitsafafa_shurafat.pdf Beit Safafa & Sharafat Town Profile] p. 14
• 594 dunums from Bethlehem,[http://vprofile.arij.org/bethlehem/pdfs/VP/Bethlehem_cp_en.pdf Bethlehem City Profile], ARIJ, p. 25
• 570 dunams from Beit Jala,[http://vprofile.arij.org/bethlehem/pdfs/VP/Beit%20Jala_cp_en.pdf Beit Jala City Profile] ARIJ pp. 23-24
• 45 dunams from al-Walaja.[http://vprofile.arij.org/bethlehem/pdfs/VP/Al%20Walaja_vp_en.pdf Al Walaja Village Profile], p. 17

During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Egyptian army positioned its artillery at Gilo, heavily shelling West Jerusalem. An attempt to advance on Jerusalem from Gilo was beaten back in a fierce battle. Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, located just north-east of Gilo, changed hands three times, ultimately remaining part of Israel, but Gilo remained on the side of the Green Line held by the Kingdom of Jordan until 1967.{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62869812.html?dids=62869812:62869812&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+24%2C+2000&author=GAIL+LICHTMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=A+history+of+Jerusalem%27s+highest+neighborhood&pqatl=google|title=A history of Jerusalem's highest neighborhood|website=pqarchiver.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725110936/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62869812.html?dids=62869812:62869812&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+24%2C+2000&author=GAIL+LICHTMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=A+history+of+Jerusalem%27s+highest+neighborhood&pqatl=google|archive-date=25 July 2012}}{{better source needed|date=November 2019}}

In 1970, the Israeli government expropriated 12,300 dunams of land to build Ring Neighborhoods around Jerusalem on land conquered in the Six-Day War.

Gilo was established in 1973. According to some sources, the land belonged to the Palestinian villages of Sharafat, Beit Jala and Beit Safafa.{{cite book|title=The future of Jerusalem|first1=Abraham|last1=Ashkenasi|editor=Abraham Ashkenasi|page=293|publisher=P. Lang|year=1999|isbn=0-8204-3505-8 }}"Gilo It was established in 1973 on Beit Safafa, Sharafat and Beit Jala land..." With its expansion over the years, Gilo has formed a wedge between Jerusalem and Beit Jala-Bethlehem.{{cite book|title=The politics of planting: Israeli-Palestinian competition for control of land in the Jerusalem periphery|author=Shaul Ephraim Cohen|edition=Illustrated|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1993|isbn=0-226-11276-4 }}

File:Beit Or, Gilo settlement of Jerusalem.jpg

In 2017, Gilo had a population of 30,900.{{cite web|url=https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PUB_505_facts-and-trends_eng_2019_web.pdf|title=Jerusalem Facts and Trends|year=2019|author1=Korach, Michal|author2=Choshen, Maya|publisher=Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research|page=21|access-date=February 26, 2020}} From its inception, Gilo has provided housing to new Jewish immigrants from around the world. Many of those who spent their first months in the country at the immigrant hostel in Gilo, including those from Iran, Syria, France and South America, chose to remain in the neighborhood. Since the large influx of Soviet Jews in the 1990s, Gilo has absorbed 15% of all immigrants of that wave settling in Jerusalem.{{cite web|url=http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/site_form_atar_eng.asp?site_id=2246&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197|title=Jerusalem neighborhoods: Gilo|website=jerusalem.muni.il|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409055909/http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/jer_sys/picture/atarim/site_form_atar_eng.asp?site_id=2246&pic_cat=4&icon_cat=6&york_cat=9&type_id=197|archive-date=9 April 2011}} The immigrant hostel is now the site of an urban kibbutz, Beit Yisrael. Gilo is a mixed community of religious and secular Jews, although more Haredi families are moving in.{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/Article.aspx?id=161713|title=Housing on the horizon?|last=LIDMAN|first=MELANIE|date=2009-11-29|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=2013-03-24}}

Beit Or (Home of Light), a hostel for autistic young adults, opened in Gilo in March 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/HealthAndSci-Tech/Health/Article.aspx?id=974|title=A house for life|website=jpost.com|date=21 September 2005 |access-date=24 April 2018}} The Ilan home for handicapped adults is located in Gilo.{{cite web|url=http://www.thesourceisrael.com/issue13/lend.shtml|title=Gilo Residence of the Ilan Foundation|website=thesourceisrael.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717031530/http://www.thesourceisrael.com/issue13/lend.shtml|archive-date=17 July 2011}} Gilo has 35 synagogues.{{cite web|url=http://www.ourjerusalem.com/ourjerusalem/story/oj20040319.html|title=Our Jerusalem: Pain and sorrow are not a sign of weakness|website=ourjerusalem.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011005126/http://www.ourjerusalem.com/ourjerusalem/story/oj20040319.html|archive-date=11 October 2008}} In 2009, the Gilo community center, one of the largest in the country, introduced a new hybrid water heating system that saves energy and greatly reduces pollution.{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=147071|title=Hybrid water heating system to be dedicated at Gilo community center|last=Waldoks|first=Ehud Zion|date=2013-03-24|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=2013-03-24}} Park Gilo has a large adventure playground for children.{{cite web|url=http://www.go-israel.com/|title=Israel hot spots: Jerusalem information|website=go-israel.com|access-date=24 April 2018}}

File:Gilocrossing.jpg

Because Gilo is located beyond the 1949 Green Line, on land occupied since the Six-Day War, the United Nations,[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7D01FC0B49D062A0852576720043BEC3 SECRETARY-GENERAL DEPLORES ISRAEL'S SETTLEMENT EXPANSION DECISION] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725175121/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/7D01FC0B49D062A0852576720043BEC3 |date=2014-07-25 }} November 17, 2009 the European Union{{cite web|url=http://euobserver.com/9/29018|title=EU rebukes Israel for Jerusalem settlement expansion|last=PHILLIPS|first=LEIGH|date=November 19, 2009|publisher=EUobserver.com|access-date=February 25, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122191045/http://euobserver.com/9/29018|archive-date=November 22, 2009}} and Japan{{cite journal|last=McGlynn|first=John|date=December 28, 2008|title=Japan, Israeli Settlements, and the Future of a Palestinian State|journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus|issue=52–1–09|url=http://www.japanfocus.org/-John-McGlynn/3276|access-date=February 25, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505053458/http://www.japanfocus.org/-John-McGlynn/3276|archive-date=May 5, 2010}} refer to it as an illegal settlement.

Israel disputes this, and considers it a neighborhood of Jerusalem.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?_r=1&ref=global-home|title=Plan to Expand Jerusalem Settlement Angers U.S.|last=KERSHNER|first=ISABEL|date=November 17, 2009|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 24, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424134402/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?_r=1&ref=global-home|archive-date=April 24, 2018}} In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Gilo community council director Yaffa Shitrit, invited the world "to come and see the neighborhood of Gilo and to understand the geography. We're not a settlement, we're part of the city of Jerusalem, we're a neighborhood like Katamon."{{cite web|url=http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/article_1259/Gilo-residents-issue-invitation-to-the-world|title=Oops! the page you were looking for doesn't exist, please retry – GoJerusalem|website=www.gojerusalem.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721225914/http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/article_1259/Gilo-residents-issue-invitation-to-the-world|archive-date=21 July 2011}} Palestinians regard it as occupied territory and make no distinction between Gilo and the West Bank settlements.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406EFDF1638F931A15751C1A9669C8B63|title=The War Within East Jerusalem (op-ed)|last=Klein Halevi|first=Yossi |date=December 22, 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 25, 2010}}

Plans to expand Gilo have drawn criticism from the United States and United Kingdom. Israel maintains that it has the right to build freely in Gilo because the neighborhood is within (expanded) Jerusalem municipal borders and not a West Bank settlement.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-israel-idUSTRE5AH15I20091118 |title=Obama criticizes Israel over settlement-building|work=Reuters|date=Nov 18, 2009|author=Jeffrey Heller|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924143805/http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/18/us-palestinians-israel-idUSTRE5AH15I20091118|archive-date=2015-09-24}} In 2009, the Jerusalem Planning Committee approved construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo, sparking a fresh round of global criticism.{{cite web |url=http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/article_1240/Gilo-neighborhood-receives-approval-to-build-900-housing-units|title=Oops! the page you were looking for doesn't exist, please retry – GoJerusalem|website=www.gojerusalem.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721225938/http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/article_1240/Gilo-neighborhood-receives-approval-to-build-900-housing-units|archive-date=21 July 2011}}

File:MuralbarrierS.jpg

From 2000, Beit Jala, a predominantly Palestinian Christian town, was used as a base by Fatah's Tanzim gunmen to launch sniper and mortar attacks{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/world/gilo-waits-for-deliverance-as-mideast-violence-goes-on.html|title=Gilo Waits for Deliverance As Mideast Violence Goes On|first=Clyde|last=Haberman|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 August 2001|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930040103/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/world/gilo-waits-for-deliverance-as-mideast-violence-goes-on.html|archive-date=30 September 2017}} against Gilo.{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998782-5,00.html|title=Fields Of Fire|first=Matt|last=Rees|date=18 December 2000|access-date=24 April 2018|via=www.time.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104230617/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998782-5,00.html|archive-date=4 November 2012}} The Israeli government built a concrete barrier and installed bulletproof windows in the homes and schools on the periphery of Gilo, facing Beit Jala.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-sep-03-mn-41607-story.html|title=It's Back-to-School Day for Israeli Children on Gilo's Front Line|first=TRACY|last=WILKINSON|date=3 September 2001|access-date=24 April 2018|via=LA Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705190321/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/03/news/mn-41607?pg=3 |archive-date=5 July 2011}} The attacks on Gilo subsided after Operation Defensive Shield, with the rate slowing to three incidents of gunfire that year.{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1130006.html|title=Shooting and buying, Haaretz|website=haaretz.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100422233736/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1130006.html|archive-date=22 April 2010}} On August 15, 2010, following years of relative quiet, the IDF started dismantling the concrete barrier, nearly a decade after its construction.{{cite news|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3936222,00.html|title=עשור אחרי: שכונת גילה נפרדת מחומות הבטון|first=רונן|last=מדזיני|date=15 August 2010|access-date=24 April 2018|newspaper=Ynet|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628060221/http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3936222,00.html|archive-date=28 June 2017}}

Seventeen of the 19 passengers killed in the Patt Junction bus bombing were residents of Gilo.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/world/mideast-turmoil-the-mood-in-jerusalem-despair-and-determination.html|title=MIDEAST TURMOIL: THE MOOD; In Jerusalem, Despair and Determination|first=Ian|last=Fisher|newspaper=The New York Times|date=20 June 2002|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527211613/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/world/mideast-turmoil-the-mood-in-jerusalem-despair-and-determination.html |archive-date=27 May 2015}}

• Eli Amir (born 1937), writer and civil servant
• Yisrael Friedman (born 1923), rabbi
• Rami Levy (born 1955), founder of Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing

• Positions on Jerusalem
• List of modern names for biblical place names

{{Clear}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Gilo}}

• [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE7DE1230F933A0575BC0A9679C8B63 Israeli Army Leaves Palestinian Town In West Bank After 2 Days of Tension], Clyde Haberman, New York Times
• [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E7DA1630F93BA1575BC0A9679C8B63 Widening Hostilities, Israel Kills Chief of P.L.O. Faction], Joel Greenberg, New York Times
• [https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/08/27/tanks.htm Israeli troops won't relinquish West Bank town] Michele Chabin, USA Today
• [http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/08/29/mideast/index.html Israelis leaving Beit Jala, say Palestinians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113165132/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/08/29/mideast/index.html |date=2008-01-13 }}, CNN
• [https://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/04/27/israeli_barrier_draws_artists_to_a_cause/ Israeli barrier draws artists to a cause] Matthew Kalman, The Boston Globe
• [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060430/news_1t30jeru.html To truly see Jerusalem, try varied perspectives], Steven Erlanger, San Diego Union Tribune
• [https://www.foxnews.com/story/school-students-heard-explosion-outside School Students Heard Explosion Outside] Associated Press
• [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blast-hits-palestinian-hq/ Blast Hits Palestinian HQ], CBS News
• [http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id249.html Gilo, settlements, and the Green Line in perspective]

{{Neighborhoods of Jerusalem}}

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{{Coord|31|43|53|N|35|11|11|E|region:PS_type:city(40000)|display=title}}

Category:Ring Settlements, East Jerusalem

Category:Populated places established in 1973

Category:Second Intifada

Category:Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem