Silwan

File:UN map of Israeli Inner Settlement Ring around Jerusalem.jpg) map of Israeli "inner settlement" ring (red crosses) around Jerusalem. Silwan is south-east of the Old City, flanked by "Beit Hazofe" (בית הצופה, "Observation House") and Ma'ale HaZeitim.]]

File:SilwanBoundaries.jpg

Silwan is located southwest of the Old City Walls and constitutes part of the Jerusalem's "Holy Basin".{{Cite news|last=Ofer Zalzberg, Yonathan Mizrahi|date=May 30, 2018|title=Peace starts in Jerusalem's Holy Basin|work=Jerusalem Post|url=https://www.jpost.com/opinion/peace-starts-in-jerusalems-holy-basin-558698}} The neighborhood has a narrow shape on a north-to-south axis. It is bounded by Wadi Hilweh and Abu Tor to the west and the Ras al-Amud neighborhood to east. Its southern tip touches the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood and its northern tip touches the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery.{{Cite web|title=Boundaries of modern Silwan|url=https://www.govmap.gov.il/?c=222952.37,630982.34&z=7&b=0&lay=CONTOUR,NEIGHBORHOODS_AREA|website=Govmap.gov.il|language=he}}

Built on the southern ridge of the Mount of Olives, Silwan slopes steeply from approximately {{Convert|700-600|m|feet|abbr=}} above sea level, until it reaches the Kidron Valley, which bounds it in the west. The historical core lies is in the northwestern section, considered to be the site of ancient Jerusalem. Dozens of ancient burial tombs attributed to the time of ancient Israel and Judah as well as the Byzantine rule were found there. Arab villagers used the tombs as dwellings or enclosures for livestock. Many of the burial tombs are inhabited until today.Yonatan Shiloni (May 1986), תכנית שיקום ובינוי לכפר סילואן ["Restoring and Construction Plan for the Village of Silwan"], in "ירושלים: כעיר שחוברה יחדיו" [Jerusalem: A City Bonded Together], אריאל: כתב עת לידעת הארץ [Ariel: Journal of the Geography of Israel], year eight, issue 44–45, pp. 152–156 (in Hebrew) 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. The rest of the village was built in the 19th century.{{Cite book|last=Yehoshua Ben-Arieh|title=עיר בראי תקופה: ירושלים החדשה בראשיתה [City in Light of an Era – The Beginning of New Jerusalem]|publisher=Yad Ben Zvi|year=1979|location=Jerusalem|pages=68–71|language=he}}

{{main|Silwan necropolis|Pool of Siloam|Stepped street (Jerusalem)}}

In the ancient period, the area where the village stands was occupied by the necropolis of the Biblical kingdom.[http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/projects/proj_past_silwan.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529130818/http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/projects/proj_past_silwan.html |date=May 29, 2009 }}"Silwan, Jerusalem: The Survey of the Iron Age Necropolis," David Ussishkin, Tel Aviv University webpage. In the valley below, according to the Hebrew Bible, "the waters of Shiloah go softly" (from the Gihon Spring; {{bibleverse||Isaiah|8:6}}) and "the Pool of Siloam" ({{bibleverse||Nehemiah|3:15}}) to water what since King Solomon became known as the king's garden ({{bibleverse|Jeremiah 39:4; 52:7|multi=yes}}; {{bibleverse|2 Kings|25:4}}; {{bibleverse|Nehemiah|3:15}}).

The necropolis, or ancient cemetery, is an archaeological site of major significance. It contains fifty rock-cut tombs of distinguished calibre, assumed to be the burial places of the highest-ranking officials of the Judean kingdom. Tomb inscriptions are in Hebrew. One of the ancient rock-cut tombs in Silwan is known as the Tomb of Pharaoh's daughter. Another notable tomb, called the Tomb of the Royal Steward is now incorporated into a modern-period house. The ancient inscription states that it was the final resting place of ""...yahu who is over the house." The first part of the Hebrew name is effaced, but refers to a Judean royal steward or chamberlain. The inscription

is now in the collection of the British Museum.

At their first thorough archaeological investigation, all of the tombs were long since emptied, and their contents removed. A great deal of destruction was done to the tombs over the centuries by Roman-period quarrying and later by their conversion for use as housing, both by monks in the Byzantine period, when some were used as churches, and later by Muslim villagers "...when the Arab village was built; tombs were destroyed, incorporated in houses or turned into water cisterns and sewage dumps."The Necropolis from the Time of the Kingdom of Judah at Silwan, Jerusalem, David Ussishkin, The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May 1970), pp. 33–46.

According to the Hebrew Bible, Siloam was built around the "serpent-stone", Zoheleth, where Adonijah gave his feast in the time of Solomon.

Image:Silwan-inscr.jpg, from the lintel of Shebna-yahu's tomb]]

The Siloam inscription was discovered in the water tunnel built during the reign of Hezekiah, in the early 7th century BC. The Siloam inscription is now preserved in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. Another important inscription found at Siloam is the lintel of Shebna-yahu's tomb (known as the Shebna Inscription), which is in the collections of the British Museum. In 2004, archaeologists excavating the site for the Israel Antiquities Authority found biblical-era coins marked with ancient Hebrew writing, pottery shards and a stone bottle cork that confirmed the identification of the site as the biblical Siloam Pool.{{cite web|last=Plushnick |first=Ramit |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103711635.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611071048/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-103711635.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 11, 2014 |title=Archaeologists identify remains of Siloam Pool, where it is believed Jesus miraculously gave sight to a blind man |publisher=Highbeam.com |access-date=February 19, 2014}}

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. On Sukkot water was brought from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple and poured upon the altar{{Citation |contribution=|title=The Mishnah |editor-last1=Danby|editor-first1=H. |editor-link1=Herbert Danby |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=Oxford |year=1933|isbn=0-19-815402-X |title-link=Mishnah }}, s.v. Sukkah [https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/n208/mode/1up 4:9], p. 179 and the priests also drank of this water.{{cite book|last=Nathan ha-Bavli|authorlink=Nathan the Babylonian|editor=Shemuel Yerushalmi|title=Avot de-Rabbi Natan |year=1976|location=Jerusalem |publisher=Mekhon Masoret|page= (chapter 35) |oclc=232936057 |language=he |title-link=Avot de-Rabbi Natan}}

In the New Testament, the collapse of the Tower of Siloam is cited by Jesus as one of two examples where sudden, untimely death came to people who didn't necessarily deserve it more than most other sinful people.{{bibleverse|Luke|13:1–5}}

According to the Gospel of John,{{bibleverse|Jn|9:1–9||9:1–9}} Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. He then told the man, "Go wash yourself in the Pool of Siloam." So the man went and washed and came back seeing.{{cite web|url=http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/the-siloam-pool-where-jesus-healed-the-blind-man/ |title=The Siloam Pool Where Jesus Healed the Blind Man |publisher=Biblicalarchaeology.org |date=May 25, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2014}}

Josephus described the waters of Siloam as "sweet and abundant".Smith, Stelman. The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names. Bridge Logos, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0882707518}} During the general outbreak of hostilities between the Jewish nation and the Roman Imperial army in ca. 66 CE, Simon bar Giora controlled all of the "Upper City" where he made his place of residence in the Phasael tower before abandoning it,Josephus (1981), The Jewish War 5.4.3. ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D5%3Awhiston+chapter%3D4%3Awhiston+section%3D3 5.156]) and part of the "Lower City" (Acra) as far as the great wall in the Kidron Valley and the fountain of Siloam, now in Silwan.Josephus (1981), The Jewish War 5.6.1 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D5%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D1 5.248] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010000415/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book%3D5:whiston+chapter%3D6:whiston+section%3D1 |date=October 10, 2020 }}).Williamson (1980), p. 296

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.

File:Map-Jerusalem.jpg' pilgrimage map from Chronica Majora]]

File:Silwan - Deshayes Louis Baron De Courmenin - 1631 (cropped).jpg' Voyage du Levant, fait par le commandement du roi en 1621]]

Local folklore dates Silwan to the arrival of the second Rashidun caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab from Arabia. 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.Jeffrey Yas.[http://www.jerusalemquarterly.org/ViewArticle.aspx?id=240 "(Re)designing the City of David: Landscape, Narrative and Archaeology in Silwan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302175621/http://www.jerusalemquarterly.org/ViewArticle.aspx?id=240 |date=March 2, 2010 }}; Jerusalem Quarterly, Winter 2000, Issue 7

In medieval Muslim tradition, the spring of Silwan (Ayn Silwan) was among the four most sacred water sources in the world. The others were Zamzam in Mecca, Ayn Falus in Beisan and Ayn al-Baqar in Acre.Sharon, 1997, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA24 24] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155611/https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC&pg=PA24 |date=October 31, 2022 }} Silwan is mentioned as "Sulwan" by the 10th-century Arab writer and traveller al-Muqaddasi. In his 985 book he noted that (as rendered in the edition by Le Strange) "The village of Sulwan is a place on the outskirts of the city [Jerusalem]. 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. Lower down than this, again, is Job's Well (Bir Ayyub). It is said that on the Night of 'Arafat the water of the holy well Zamzam, at Makkah, comes underground to the water of the Spring (of Siloam). The people hold a festival here on that evening."Muk., 171. Quoted in Guy Le Strange: Palestine under the Moslems, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/221/mode/1up 221].

Moshe Gil interprets statements by Muqaddasi (writing in 985), Nasir-i Khusraw (1047), and Yaqut (1225), as meaning that what they called the Spring of Silwan can only be a water source located at quite a distance farther south, Khusraw actually indicating a distance of c. 3 km from Jerusalem's walls. This leads to Gil identifying this "Spring of Silwan" with what we know today as the Spring of Bir Ayyub (biblical Ein Rogel), whose exact location in those days cannot be pinpointed anymore, but was in any case several km away from the city walls.{{cite book |last= Gil |first= Moshe |title= The Political History of Jerusalem during the Early Muslim Period: The Jewish Community |page= 173 n. 11 |editor-last1= Prawer |editor-first1= Joshua |editor-last2= Ben-Shammai |editor-first2= Haggai |work= The History of Jerusalem: The Early Muslim Period (638–1099) |publisher= Yad Yzhak Ben-Zvi & NYU Press |year= 1996 |isbn= 9780814766392 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-qQUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 |access-date=August 14, 2020}}

File:Silwan in the 1865 Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem Old City full map (cropped).jpg]]

File:SilwanOrdnanceSurvey1865.jpg

File:ARAB MEN IN JERUSALEM ENGAGED IN A FRIENDLY CONVERSATION.jpg, ca. 1890]]

File:ARAB WOMEN IN JERUSALEM CARRYING CONTAINERS FILLED WITH LABANEH.jpg, by Bonfils, ca. 1890]]

In 1596, Ayn Silwan appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds, with a population of 60 households, all Muslim. They paid a total of 35,500 akçe in taxes, and all of the revenues went to a Waqf.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 114

In 1834, during a large-scale peasants' rebellion against Ibrahim Pasha,{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Jerusalem|title=Jerusalem | History, Map, Culture, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}} thousands of rebels infiltrated Jerusalem through ancient underground sewage channels leading to the farm fields of the village of Silwan.Jerusalem in the 19th Century: The Old City Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, Part II, Chapter One: Ottoman Rule, pp. 90, 109, Yad Ben Zvi Institute & St. Martin's Press, New York, 1984 A traveller to Palestine in 1883, T. Skinner, wrote that the olive groves near Silwan were a gathering place for Muslims on Fridays.Jerusalem in the 19th Century: The Old City Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, Part II, Chapter Two: The Muslim Community, p. 133, Yad Ben Zvi Institute & St. Martin's Press, New York, 1984

In 1838 Silwan was noted as a Muslim village, part of el-Wadiyeh district, located east of Jerusalem.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/122/mode/1up 122]

A photograph of the village taken between 1853 and 1857 by James Graham can be found on page 35 of Picturing Jerusalem by photographers James Graham and Mendel Diness. It shows the western part of the modern village as empty of habitations, a few trees are scattered across the southern ridge with the small village confined to the ridgetop east of the valley.Picturing Jerusalem; James Graham and Mendel Diness, Photographers, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2007.

In the mid-1850s, the villagers of Silwan were paid £100 annually by the Jews in an effort to prevent the desecration of graves on the Mount of Olives.{{cite book|author=Menashe Har-El|title=Golden Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Z2cFY9iGqgC&pg=PA244|access-date=October 14, 2010|date=April 2004|publisher=Gefen Publishing House Ltd|isbn=978-965-229-254-4|page=244}} Nineteenth-century travellers described the village as a robbers' lair.This is Jerusalem, Menashe Har-El, Jerusalem 1977, p.135 Charles Wilson wrote that "the houses and the streets of Siloam, if such they may be called, are filthy in the extreme." Charles Warren depicted the population as a lawless set, credited with being "the most unscrupulous ruffians in Palestine."{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/20/3/3|title=The Tombs of Silwan|date=August 24, 2015|website=The BAS Library}}

An official Ottoman village list from about 1870 showed that Silwan had a total of 92 houses and a population of 240, though the population count included only men.Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/161/mode/1up 161]Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n932/mode/1up 124] also noted 92 houses

In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Silwan as a "village perched on a precipice and badly built of stone. The waters is brought from Ain Umm ed Deraj. There are numerous caves among and behind the houses, which are used as stables by the inhabitants."Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/30/mode/1up 30]

Modern settlement of the western ridge of the modern urban neighborhood of Silwan, called {{Lang|ar-latn|Wadi Hilweh}} in Arabic and dubbed in 1920 "the City of David" by Jewish-French archaeologist :de:Raymond Weill (1874–1950),{{cite book |author1= Wendy Pullan |author2= Maximilian Sternberg |author3= Lefkos Kyriacou |author4= Craig Larkin |author5= Michael Dumper |title= The Struggle for Jerusalem's Holy Places |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SeEkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |date=November 20, 2013 |publisher= Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-97556-4 |pages= 76–77 |chapter= David's City in Palestinian Silwan }} began in 1873–1874, when the Meyuchas family moved out of the Old City to a new home on the ridge.Yemin Moshe: The Story of a Jerusalem Neighborhood, Eliezer David Jaffe, Praeger, 1988, p. 51

In books published between 1888 and 1911, travellers describe the valley floor as verdant and cultivated,Handbook to the Mediterranean: Its Cities, Coasts and Islands, Robert Lambert Playfair, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1892, p. 70.Biblical Geography and History, Charles Foster Kent, 1911 , p. 219 with the stony village perched along the top of the eastern ridge hillside.The Holy Land and the Bible: A Book of Scripture Illustrations, Cunningham Geikie , 1888, New York, James Pott & Co. Publishers p.558 Explorer Gustaf Dalman (1855–1941) describes the manner in which the villagers of Silwan irrigated their vegetable crop which they planted on terraces.{{cite book |author-last=Dalman|author-first=Gustaf |author-link=Gustaf Dalman |title=Work and Customs in Palestine, volume II |publisher=Dar Al Nasher |location=Ramallah|year=2020 |volume=2 (Agriculture) |language=en |translator=Robert Schick |editor=Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian |page=278 |isbn=978-9950-385-84-9 }} 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,William P. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: a theology of metaphor ,Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, p. 68: attributed to Solomon in {{bibleverse|Ecclesiastes|2:4–6}}, and Josephus. See also Yee-Von Koh, Royal autobiography in the book of Qoheleth, Walter de Gruyter, 2006 p. 33, pp. 94–96. to grow vegetables for market in Jerusalem.Cyclopaedia of Biblical , Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, John McClintock, Harper and Brothers, 1889, p. 745

Between 1885 and 1891, 45 new stone houses were built for a Yemenite Jewish community in what is now the Batn al-Hawa area of Silwan.Homepage of the [http://yemenitesynagogue.com/en/article/hekdesh-consecration-houses-village-shiloach Yemenite Village Synagogue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721155016/http://yemenitesynagogue.com/en/article/hekdesh-consecration-houses-village-shiloach |date=July 21, 2021 }}. Accessed August 2020. The neighbourhood included a place of worship now known as the Old Yemenite Synagogue.{{cite news |url= https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3831654,00.html |title= Behind the lens of Hannah and Efraim Degani – part 7 |last= Man |first= Nadav |date=9 January 2010 |work=Ynetnews }}Sylva M. Gelber, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DPjhaJ5prXMC&pg=PA88 No Balm in Gilead: A Personal Retrospective of Mandate Days in Palestine,] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155646/https://books.google.com/books?id=DPjhaJ5prXMC&pg=PA88 |date=October 31, 2022 }} McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 1989 p.88

In 1896 the population of Silwan was estimated to be about 939 persons.Schick, 1896, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde19deut#page/n228/mode/1up 121]

At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine, "Selwan (Kfar Hashiloah)" had a population of 1,901 persons; 1,699 Muslims, 153 Jews and 49 Christians,Barron, 1923, Table VII, Sub-district of Jerusalem, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n16/mode/1up 14] where the Christians were 16 Roman Catholics and 33 Syrian Catholics.Barron, 1923, Table XIV, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n47/mode/1up 45] In the same year, Baron Edmond de Rothschild bought several acres of land there and transferred it to the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association.{{cite book|author1=Zionist Organization of America|author2=Jewish Agency for Israel. Economic Dept|title=Israel yearbook and almanac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56xtAAAAMAAJ|access-date=October 14, 2010|year=1997|publisher=IBRT Translation/Documentation Ltd.|page=102}} 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).Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 43]

In the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, the Yemenite community was removed from Silwan by the Welfare Bureau of the Va'ad Leumi into the Jewish Quarter as security conditions for Jews worsened,Sylva M. Gelber, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DPjhaJ5prXMC&pg=PA88 No balm in Gilead: a personal retrospective of mandate days in Palestine,] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155646/https://books.google.com/books?id=DPjhaJ5prXMC&pg=PA88 |date=October 31, 2022 }} Carleton University/McGill University Press 1989 pp. 56,88. and in 1938, the remaining Yemenite Jews in Silwan were evacuated by the Jewish Community Council on the advice of the police.{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/11-jewish-families-move-into-j-lem-neighborhood-of-silwan-1.118528|title=11 Jewish families move into J'lem neighborhood of Silwan|last=Shragai|first=Nadav|date=January 4, 2004|work=Haaretz}}Palestine Post, August 15, 1938, p. 2 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.[https://archive.today/20130131181858/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62536043.html?dids=62536043:62536043&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+15,+1995&author=BILL+HUTMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=Documents+show+Arabs+illegally+obtained+Jewish+homes+in+Silwan&pqatl=google Documents show Arabs illegally obtained Jewish homes in Silwan], Bill Hutman, Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 14, 2010.[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99689927.html?dids=99689927:99689927&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+10%2C+1992&author=Gail+Lichtman&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=WHO+OWNS+THE+LAND%3F&pqatl=google WHO OWNS THE LAND?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104094953/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99689927.html?dids=99689927:99689927&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+10,+1992&author=Gail+Lichtman&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=WHO+OWNS+THE+LAND%3F&pqatl=google |date=November 4, 2012 }}, Gail Lichtman, Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 29, 2010.

File:כפר השילוח - מראה-JNF001503.jpeg

File:Silwan 1948.jpg

The British Mandatory government began annexing parts of Silwan to the Jerusalem Municipality, a process completed by the final Jordanian annexation of remaining Silwan in 1952.

File:View to Silwan and Wall.jpg, in 2005, looking towards the Israeli West Bank barrier near the Old City]]

In the twentieth century, Silwan grew northward towards Jerusalem, expanding from a small farming village into an urban neighborhood. Modern Arab Silwan encompasses Old Silwan (generally to the south), the Yemenite village (to the north), and the once-vacant land between. Today Silwan follows the ridge of the southern peak of the Mount of Olives to the east of the Kidron Valley, from the ridge west of the Ophel up to the southern wall of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.

In the 1945 statistics the population of Silwan was 3,820; 3,680 Muslims and 140 Christians,Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p25.jpg 25] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512205509/http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p25.jpg |date=May 12, 2016 }} with a total of 5,421 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Jerusalem/Page-058.jpg 58] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103095254/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Jerusalem/Page-058.jpg |date=November 3, 2018 }} Of this, Arabs used 58 dunams for plantations and irrigable land and 2,498 for cereals, while Jews used 51 for cereals.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Jerusalem/Page-104.jpg 104] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314093122/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Jerusalem/Page-104.jpg |date=March 14, 2012 }} A total of 172 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Jerusalem/Page-154.jpg 154] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427225840/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Jerusalem/Page-154.jpg |date=April 27, 2014 }}

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Silwan came under Jordanian administration along with the rest of the West Bank, and land there owned by Jews was managed by the Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property.{{cite book|last=Fischbach|first=Michael R.|title=State, Society, and Land in Jordan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WAgDMWsyb8C|year=2000|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=978-90-04-11912-3|page=193}} It remained under Jordanian rule until 1967, when Israel captured the Old City and surrounding region. Until then, the village had delegates in the Jerusalem City Council.

{{see also|Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem}}

File:Israeli settlements and archaeological excavavations in Silwan, East Jerusalem.jpg

Since the 1967 Six-Day War Silwan has been under Israeli occupation, and Jewish organizations have sought to re-establish a Jewish presence there. 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/may/01/archaeologistsforhire|title=Archaeologists for hire|last=Bronner|first=Yigal|date=May 1, 2008|work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=411060|title=11 Jewish families move into J'lem neighborhood of Silwan – Haaretz – Israel News}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/26/diggingintotrouble|title=Digging into trouble|first=Seth|last=Freedman|newspaper=The Guardian |date=February 26, 2008|via=www.theguardian.com}}

In 1987, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations wrote to the Secretary-General to inform him of Israeli settlement activity; his letter noted that an Israeli company had taken over two Palestinian houses in the neighborhood of al-Bustan, after evicting their occupants, claiming the houses were its property.[http://domino.un.org/unispal.NSF/3822b5e39951876a85256b6e0058a478/44ddc2496c28e0af052567f400544c98!OpenDocument "Letter dated 16 October 1987 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General"]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} UN General Assembly Security Council 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.

File:OCHAoPT map of evictions in East Jerusalem as at 2016.pdf

In 1991, a movement was formed to promote Jewish settlement in Silwan.John Quigley, Flight into the Maelstrom: Soviet Immigration to Israel and Middle East Peace, Ithaca Press, 1997 p.68.Hillel Cohen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KRKsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 The Rise and Fall of Arab Jerusalem: Palestinian Politics and the City since 1967,] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155647/https://books.google.com/books?id=KRKsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |date=October 31, 2022 }} Routledge 2013 p.94.'Late in the Intifada, when Jewish settlement began in the Wadi Hilwe section of Silwan ("The City of David") left-wing activists from Jerusalem worked together with people from Orient House in an attempt to stop the Jewish settlement in the neighbourhood '. Some Silwan properties had already been declared absentee property in the 1980s, and suspicions arose that a number of claims filed by Jewish organizations had been accepted by the Custodian without any site visits or follow-up.Meron Rapoport.[http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=530047&contrassID=1 Land lords] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220142640/http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=530047&contrassID=1 |date=December 20, 2008 }}; Haaretz, January 20, 2005 Property in Silwan has been purchased by Jews through indirect sales, some by invoking the Absentee Property Law.Joel Greenburg.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E6D9143AF93AA35755C0A96E958260 "Settlers Move Into 4 Homes in East Jerusalem"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155648/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/09/world/settlers-move-into-4-homes-in-east-jerusalem.html |date=October 31, 2022 }}; New York Times, June 9, 1998 In other cases, the Jewish National Fund signed protected tenant agreements that enabled construction to proceed without a tender process.Meron Rapoport.[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-republic-of-elad-1.185892 "The republic of Elad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205072112/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-republic-of-elad-1.185892 |date=December 5, 2010 }}; Haaretz, April 23, 2006 [retrieved May 27, 2010]

As of 2004, more than 50 Jewish families live in the area,{{Cite web|url=http://www.fmep.org/reports/vol14/no4/07-settlement_timeline.html |publisher=Foundation for Middle East Peace |title=Settlement Timeline |date=July–August 2004 |access-date=March 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719172832/http://www.fmep.org/reports/vol14/no4/07-settlement_timeline.html |archive-date=July 19, 2006}} some in homes acquired from Arabs who claim they did not know they were selling their homes to Jews,{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/724671.html |publisher=Haaretz |title=The Maraga tapes |first=Meron |last=Rapoport |date=June 9, 2006 |access-date=March 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616203722/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/724671.html |archive-date=June 16, 2006}} some in Beit Yonatan.

In 2003, Ateret Cohanim built a seven-storey apartment building known as Beit Yonatan (named for Jonathan Pollard) without a permit. In 2007, the courts ordered the eviction of the residents,Meron Rapoport [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/869813.html "The battle over settling Silwan simmers"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012071954/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/869813.html |date=October 12, 2008 }} Haaretz, June 12, 2007 but the building was approved retroactively.[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/134748 "Jerusalem Approves ‘Beit Yehonatan’ in Shiloach"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328041957/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/134748 |date=March 28, 2008 }} Arutz Sheva, October 15, 2007 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.Akiva Eldar.[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983289.html "Plan to put synagogue in heart of East Jerusalem likely to be approved"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517151903/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983289.html |date=May 17, 2008 }}; Haaretz, May 20, 2008

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."{{Cite web |url=http://www.rhr-na.org/news/rhr-israel-defends-citizens-silwan |title=RHR statement |access-date=June 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012172314/http://www.rhr-na.org/news/rhr-israel-defends-citizens-silwan |archive-date=October 12, 2008 |url-status=dead }} Approximately 1,500 supporters of RHR-NA/T'ruah wrote to Russell Robinson,{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2012/03/01/opinion/op-ed-jnf-should-plant-trees-not-uproot-families|title=Op-Ed: JNF should plant trees, not uproot families|date=March 2, 2012}} CEO of JNF-US, to demand an end to the eviction of a Silwan family.

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{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-settlers-move-into-25-e-j-lem-homes-1.5309362|title=Settlers Move Into 25 East Jerusalem Homes, Marking Biggest Influx in Decades|first=Nir|last=Hasson|date=September 30, 2014|newspaper=Haaretz}} which previously belonged to several Palestinian families in the neighborhood, in what was the largest Israeli purchase of homes in Silwan since 1986.Reuters, [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4576395,00.html 'Jewish settlers move into Palestinian homes in Old City's shadow'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001013329/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4576395,00.html |date=October 1, 2014 }}, Ynetnews September 30, 2014. Most were vacant, but in one house where a family was evicted a confrontation broke out. Details concerning the process whereby the properties were purchased are lacking, but Palestinian middle men appear to be involved,Nir Hasson, [http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.619025 'Ex-Islamic Movement man helped settlers' move on E. Jerusalem, say Palestinians,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003151049/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.619025 |date=October 3, 2014 }}Haaretz October 3, 2014. buying the six houses, and then selling them to a private American company, Kendall Finance. Elad stated that the houses had been bought properly and legally. Advertisements were posted on Facebook offering Jewish ex-army veterans $140 a day to sit in the properties until families move in. 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.[http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.618470 'Rightist group chalking up biggest settler influx in East Jerusalem in decades,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930164102/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.618470 |date=September 30, 2014 }} Haaretz Some of the Palestinian families claiming ownership intended to get the settlers out by taking legal steps.

In response to this move, on October 2, 2014, the European Union condemned settlement expansion in Silwan.{{Cite web|url=http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_15532_en.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006074114/http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_15532_en.htm |url-status=dead |title=Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations - New York - European External Action Service |archive-date=October 6, 2014}} 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." Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "baffled" by US criticism, deeming it "un-American" to criticize the legal purchase of homes in East Jerusalem to either Jews or Arabs.[http://www.timesofisrael.com/sudden-apartment-takeovers-in-east-jerusalem-spark-anger/ Daniel Estrin, 'Sudden apartment takeovers in east Jerusalem spark anger,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003134837/http://www.timesofisrael.com/sudden-apartment-takeovers-in-east-jerusalem-spark-anger/ |date=October 3, 2014 }} The Times of Israel October 3, 2014.

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.{{cite news |title= Jerusalem OKs new building for Jews in Arab neighborhood, drawing protest from Palestinians |language= en |publisher= Los Angeles Times (AP) |date= June 15, 2016 |url= http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-jerusalem-settlements-palestine-20160615-snap-story.html |access-date= June 16, 2016}}

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. The organization managed to take over control of an Ottoman era (19th century) Jewish trust, called the Benvenisti Trust after Rabbi Moshe Benvenisti, and claims that land in areas of Silwan, such as the Batan al-Hawa neighborhood, was 'sacred religious land' and that Palestinians residing on this trust land were illegal squatters. The decisions are thought to effectively threaten with displacement some 700 Palestinians in Silwan.[https://fmep.org/resource/settlement-report-january-31-2020/ 'Settlement Report [The Trump Plan Edition],'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729174155/https://fmep.org/resource/settlement-report-january-31-2020/ |date=July 29, 2021 }}Foundation for Middle East Peace 31 January 2020.

The house where the family lives is in the middle of an area designated by Israel as "the City of David National Park."{{Cite web|url=https://fmep.org/resource/settlement-report-july-3-2020/|title=Settlement & Annexation Report: July 3, 2020|date=July 3, 2020 }} where a right-wing, pro-settler organization, Elad, runs an archaeological and biblical theme park known as City of David.{{cite news |title=Israeli Court Clears the Way to Evict Palestinian Family From East Jerusalem Home |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-court-clears-the-way-to-evict-palestinian-family-from-east-jerusalem-home-1.8962453|publisher =Haaretz|date=July 1, 2020|access-date=October 15, 2020}}

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. The home had been acquired via the Absentee Property Law.{{cite news |author=Haaretz and Nir Hasson |title=JNF board member resigns to protest eviction of East Jerusalem Palestinian family |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jnf-board-member-resigns-to-protest-eviction-of-east-jerusalem-palestinian-family-1.401416 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=December 14, 2011 |access-date=December 28, 2011}}{{cite news |author=Nir Hasson |title=Palestinian family given two weeks to vacate East Jerusalem home |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinian-family-given-two-weeks-to-vacate-east-jerusalem-home-1.395590 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=November 11, 2011 |access-date=December 28, 2011}}{{cite news |author=Seth Morrison |title=JNF Board Member Quits Over Evictions |url=http://forward.com/articles/147766/ |newspaper=The Forward |date=December 13, 2011 |access-date=December 28, 2011}} Several days before the order was carried out, JNF announced it would be delayed.{{cite news |author=Nir Hasson |title=JNF delays eviction of Palestinian family from East Jerusalem home |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jnf-delays-eviction-of-palestinian-family-from-east-jerusalem-home-1.397923 |newspaper=Haaretz |date=November 27, 2011 |access-date=December 28, 2011}}

In 2011 the verdict was overturned. In 2017, the claim was successfully renewed. In September 2019, the Sumreen family lost an appeal and appealed to the District Court. In June 2020, the appeal was rejected. After criticism from many directions the JNF has asked for a rehearing of the proceedings. In August, the eviction process was suspended. JNF and Elad are in disagreement over the process.{{cite news |title=Facing International Outcry, Jewish National Fund Reconsidering East Jerusalem Family's Eviction |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-jewish-national-fund-considers-backtracking-on-east-jerusalem-family-s-eviction-1.9228390|publisher =Haaretz|date=October 12, 2020|access-date=October 15, 2020}}{{cite news |title=Exclusive: Documents reveal decades of close cooperation between JNF and Elad |url=https://www.972mag.com/exclusive-jnf-elad-jerusalem/|publisher =+972 Magazine|date=October 19, 2020|access-date=October 19, 2020}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://fmep.org/resource/settlement-annexation-report-january-14-2022/|title=Settlement & Annexation Report: January 14, 2022|date=January 14, 2022 }}{{Cite web|url=https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/israel-oks-expulsion-jerusalem-palestinian-family|title=Israel OKs expulsion of Palestinian family from Jerusalem|first=Qassam Muaddi ــ West|last=Bank|date=January 10, 2022|website=english.alaraby.co.uk/}}

On 3 April 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against eviction and that the JNF's subsidiary Heimanuta must pay compensation of 20,000 shekels ($5,560).{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-04-03/ty-article/.premium/israels-top-court-rules-against-evicting-palestinian-family-in-jlem-after-32-year-battle/00000187-46a5-d027-a7af-c7f78d880000|title=Israel's Supreme Court Rules Against Evicting Palestinian Family in East Jerusalem After 32-year Battle|newspaper=Haaretz}}

In 2005, the Israeli government planned to demolish 88 Arab homes in al-Bustan neighborhood built without permits{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069913.html|publisher=Ha'aretz|title=Jerusalem demolitions may spark repeat of 1996 riots|date=March 10, 2009|access-date=March 10, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090313045248/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069913.html|archive-date=March 13, 2009}} but they were not found illegal in a municipal court.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060925041930/http://jmcc.org/new/05/jun/jeru.htm "Jerusalem Municipality plans to demolish 88 homes in Silwan"]; Al Ayyam Newspaper, June 1, 2005

According to the State Comptroller's report, there were 130 illegal structures in Silwan in 2009, a tenfold increase since 1967. When enforcement of the building code began in al-Bustan in 1995, thirty illegal structures were found, mostly old residential buildings.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News?id=191282&R=R2|title=Israel News | The Jerusalem post|website=www.jpost.com}} By 2004, the number of illegal structures rose to 80. The municipality launched legal proceedings against 43 and demolished 10, but these were soon replaced by new buildings.

The group Ir Amim argues that the illegal construction is due to insufficient granting of permits by the Jerusalem municipality. They say that under Israeli administration, fewer than 20 permits, mainly minor, were issued for this part of Silwan, and that as a result, most building in this part of Silwan and the whole neighborhood generally lack permits.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ir-amim.org.il/Eng/?CategoryID=339&ArticleID=919|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823011617/http://www.ir-amim.org.il/Eng/?CategoryID=339&ArticleID=919|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 23, 2011|publisher=Ir Amim|title=City of David- Silwan|access-date=July 26, 2011}} They also say that as of 2009, the vast majority of buildings in the neighborhood were built without permits, in particular in al-Bustan.{{cite web|url=http://www.ir-amim.org.il/sites/default/files/Silwanreporteng.pdf|title=Shady Dealings in Silwan|work=Ir Amim|date=May 2009}} In 2010, Ir Amim's petition to halt a municipal zoning plan for the City of David area was rejected. The plan does not call for demolition of illegal construction, but rather regulates where construction may continue. The group said that the plan favored the interests of Elad and the neighborhood's Jewish residents, while Elad said that the plan allotted only 15 percent of construction to Jews versus 85 percent to Arab residents. The mukhtar of Silwan objected to Ir Amim's petition against the plan. "We have said that there are good aspects of the plan and there are bad aspects of the plan, we're still working it all out. But to come and say that the whole plan is bad, and to ask that it be done away with, then what have you accomplished? Nothing."{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=170284 |publisher=Jerusalem Post |title=Court rejects NGO petition to halt Silwan planning scheme |first=Selig |last=Abe |date=May 3, 2010 |access-date=July 26, 2011}}

In May 2010, a group of Israeli settlers torched "an 11-Dunam olive orchard in al-Rababa valley, in Silwan, south of the Old City of Jerusalem" which included the destruction of three olive trees that were over 300 years old.{{citation |first=Saed |last=Bannoura |url=http://www.imemc.org/article/58670 |title=Settler Torch Olive Orchard In Silwan |work=International Middle East Media Center |date=May 13, 2010}} In a 2011 New York Times article, these attacks were called "price tag" attacks.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/world/middleeast/mosque-set-on-fire-in-northern-israel.html |title=Mosque Set on Fire in Northern Israel |date=October 3, 2011 |first=Isabel |last=Kershner |access-date=January 23, 2015 |work=New York Times |location=Jerusalem}}

The Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies put the number of residents to 19,050 in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://jiis.org.il/.upload/yearbook2014/shnaton_C1414.pdf|title=Table III/14 – Population of Jerusalem, by Age, Quarter, Sub-Quarter and Statistical Area, 2012|work=Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies|date=2014}} However, the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem are difficult to define, in contrast to the Jewish neighborhoods, because dense construction has blurred older boundaries and Silwan is now merged with Ras al-Amud, Jabel Mukaber and Abu Tor. The Palestinian residents in Silwan number 20,000 to 50,000 while there are fewer than 700 Jews.{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.618734|title=East Jerusalem remains 'Arab' despite Jewish settlers, experts say|work=Haaretz|date=October 2, 2014}}

The Silwan Ta'azef Music School opened in October 2007. Since November 2007, an art program, language courses for women, men and children, leadership training for teenage girls, cooking classes, an embroidery club and swimming classes have opened in Silwan. In 2009, a local library was established. The Silwan theater group is led by a professional actress from Bethlehem.{{Cite web |url=http://www.exedrajournal.com/docs/s-internationalization2/15.pdf |title=The Silwan Ta'azef Music School in Silwan |access-date=March 20, 2012 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004731/http://www.exedrajournal.com/docs/s-internationalization2/15.pdf |url-status=dead }} Many of these activities take place at the Madaa Silwan Creative Center.{{Cite web|url=http://www.preludefund.org/silwan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307010137/http://www.preludefund.org/silwan.html|url-status=dead|title=Prelude: Creating playgrounds in the Middle East|archive-date=March 7, 2011}}

{{main|Silwan necropolis}}

File:City of david2.jpg

A part of Silwan was built around and above the Silwan necropolis, a series of rock-cut structures originally used as Iron Age tombs, but repurposed for various uses over the millennia.

{{main|Wadi Hilweh|City of David (archaeological site)|Givati Parking Lot dig}}

The ridge to the west of Silwan, part of the Wadi Hilweh Arab neighbourhood and known as the City of David in archaeological and tourism contexts, is believed to be the original Bronze Age and Iron Age site of Jerusalem. Archaeological exploration began in the 19th century. Vacant during most of the Ottoman period, Jewish and Arab settlement began in the late 19th century.A photograph of the vacant ridge taken between 1853 and 1857 by James Grahm can be found on page 31 of Picturing Jerusalem; James Graham and Mendel Diness, Photographers, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2007.

The National-Religious Jewish settlers' organisation, ElAd, was accused of excavating on Palestinian property{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964131.html|title=Haaretz on Rabbis for Human Rights arrest|access-date=June 12, 2008|archive-date=June 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603194734/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964131.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5002288|title=Police Arrest Rabbi for 'Inciting Palestinians' in East Jerusalem: Arik Ascherman, head of Rabbis for Human Rights, arrested for encouraging opposition to excavations|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=August 22, 2020|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128155459/https://www.haaretz.com/1.5002288|url-status=dead}} and beginning its work on the City of David tunnels before receiving a permit from the Jerusalem Municipality.Meron Rapoport.[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821774.html "City of David tunnel excavation proceeds without proper permit"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419114651/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821774.html |date=April 19, 2008 }}; Haaretz, February 5, 2007

The general area was thought by many historical geographers to be that of Josephus' Acra, so-named after an old fortress that was once there, an area also called the "Lower City."Decoster (1989). pp. 70–84

In 2007, archaeologists unearthed under a parking lot a 2,000-year-old mansion that may have belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene. The building includes storerooms, living quarters and ritual baths.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3479597,00.html|title=Israeli archaeologists find 2,000-year-old mansion linked to historic queen|date=June 12, 2007|website=Ynetnews}}

In 2008, Islamic-era skeletons discovered in the course of excavations have disappeared.Meron Rapaport.[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988803.html "Islamic-era skeletons 'disappeared' from Elad-sponsored dig"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006215525/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/988803.html |date=October 6, 2008 }}. Haaretz, June 1, 2008

{{reflist|25em}}

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• {{cite journal | last = Hartmann | first =M.| author-link = Martin Hartmann | title = Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871) | journal = Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins | volume = 6 | pages = 102–149 | url =https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ | year = 1883}}
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• {{cite book |last=Josephus |author-link=Josephus |title=Josephus Complete Works |publisher=Kregel Publications |translator=William Whiston |date=1981|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |language=en |isbn=0-8254-2951-X}}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft|title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|last2=Smith|first2=E.|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|year=1841|volume=3|location=Boston|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|author-link2=Eli Smith}}
• {{cite journal |last=Schick |first=C.|author-link=Conrad Schick |title=Zur Einwohnerzahl des Bezirks Jerusalem |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |volume=19 |pages=120–127 |url=https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde19deut |year=1896}}
• {{cite book|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, A |volume= 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1rSzWgHMjoC|first=M.|last=Sharon| author-link = Moshe Sharon|year=1997|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-10833-5}}
• {{cite journal |last=Socin |first=A.|author-link=Albert Socin |title=Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |volume=2 |pages=135–163 |url=https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde01deut |year=1879}}
• {{cite book|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft |first=G.|last=Strange, le| author-link =Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book |editor=Williamson, G.A. |editor-link=G. A. Williamson |title=Josephus – The Jewish War |publisher=The Penguin Classics |location=Middlesex, U.K.|year=1980|language=en|oclc=633813720}} ({{OCLC|1170073907}}) (reprint)

{{refend}}

• [http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Silwan.html Ancient Silwan (Shiloah) Siloam in Israel and The City of David]
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 17: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8379 IAA], Wikimedia commons
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/jerusalem/pdfs/factsheet/Silwan%20and%20Ath%20Thury_EN.pdf Silwan & Ath Thuri (Fact Sheet)] Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, ARIJ
• [http://vprofile.arij.org/jerusalem/images/english/Silwan%20&%20Ath%20Thuri_ap_en.jpg Aerial photo], ARIJ
• [http://www.antiquities.org.il/survey/new/default_en.aspx?pid=13729 Silwan (Shiloah) in Antiquity] Archaeological Survey of Israel
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2011/jun/08/east-jerusalem-palestinian-israel-archaeology-english East Jerusalem: 'Every action in this area is very sensitive' – video], The Guardian
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2011/jun/08/east-jerusalem-israel-palestine-cctv-english?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3486 East Jerusalem: Witnessing the truth – video], The Guardian
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120501114828/http://www.civiccoalition-jerusalem.org/tag/silwan Home Demolition and Forced Displacement in Silwan], The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem
• [https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-city-divided-jerusalems-most-contested-neighborhood/ A City Divided: Jerusalem's Most Contested Neighborhood], Vice News
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL5VhNj11IRaVcjd29KKekiPNrRHTiCDzJ&v=PMeEaeSP8aE Overview of the Yemenite Village Adjacent to the Gihon Spring], by Ateret Cohanim
• [http://www.silwanic.net/ Wadi Hilweh Information Center]

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