#SaveSilwan: The israeli Project to Judaise East Jerusalem and Ethnically Cleanse Palestinians

Opinion Analysis by Roa Daher, Featured Writer

June 24th, 2021

In East Jerusalem, only 1.5 kilometers away from the Dome of the Rock and 300m south of the Al-Aqsa mosque, sits the town of Silwan that is constituted of 33,000 Palestinian residents. Like many other Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, families in Silwan have been living under the threat of eviction for decades now. Unfortunately, the story of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is one that is shared among many other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as well, all because of the oppressive policies of the apartheid state, that is aided by the laws that enable it to kick Palestinians out of their homes in order to Judaise East Jerusalem and erase traces of the Palestinian presence and identity as a whole.  

During the 1967 israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, close to 73,000 acres of land were occupied by israelis in addition to the adjacent lands that were stolen in 1948. The Ras al-Amud region of Silwan has been occupied by Jewish settlers to control the entrances into Silwan and the road connecting Jerusalem and Jericho. Various neighborhoods in Silwan have been threatened by israeli occupation, as the apartheid state aims to forcibly expel the Palestinian residents to make room for more Jewish settlers. 280 families comprising 3000 people are facing the same displacement threats in the Ain al Lozeh neighborhood to build a road between Jewish settlements. In the Batn Al Hawa neighborhood, 700 Palestinians making up 86 families are under the threat of forced expulsions from their homes because of a settler organization called Ateret Cohenim that has claimed ownership of the land and has been supported by the israeli occupation’s courts that uphold and practice apartheid. As well, 84 families comprising 685 Palestinians are facing forced expulsion orders in the Wadi Yasoul neighborhood, as the israeli municipality wants to use that land to expand Talmudic parks. In the Al Bustan neighborhood, the situation has been escalating - from the threat of the expulsion of its 1500 residents, constituting 124 families to orders from the occupation authorities that the residents of the neighborhood have to demolish their own homes or pay to have them demolished within 21 days. The Zionist apartheid state of israel, which is built on Jewish supremacy, is forcing Palestinian families to destroy their own homes in Al Bustan in order to make room for a biblical park that will encourage tourism in the area. 124 families will be left homeless so that colonial tourism can bloom, and the israeli settler-colonial project can boom along with it.

How does this happen? How is it possible to render hundreds of families homeless overnight in the hope of Judaising Jerusalem and ethnically cleansing Palestinians? In addition to the Absentee Property Law and the Legal and Administrative Matters Law that have been discussed in the context of Sheikh Jarrah, demolitions of Palestinian homes in Silwan have been enabled by the Kaminitz law that was passed in 2017 as an amendment to the Building and Planning law. This piece of legislation has given the israeli government increased enforcement powers regarding demolition and eviction orders, in addition to increased fines in the case of noncompliance. israeli media has portrayed this inherently discriminatory law as an attempt to ‘integrate israeli Arabs into israel’ by enforcing the same laws all over the country. This is blatantly untrue, as this law prevents building without a permit and Palestinians are unable to obtain permits from the Zionist occupation’s courts. This law has also granted the colonial building authority complete control over issuing fines, going as high as hundreds of shekels without having to go to court, while withdrawing the court’s authority to postpone any demolition orders. Thus, this law leaves the Palestinians with no legal options that could prevent or delay their home demolitions in a legal system that already vouches for their ethnic cleansing and discriminates against them in every way possible. Palestinians are even stripped of their ability to contest these demolition orders. Since the law was passed, recorded building violations have increased six-fold, and Palestinians continue to suffer at the hands of the cruel and unjust occupation. Any attempts to evict and expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem are illegal under international law since it is seen as occupied territory and should not face any demographic changes. But, israel does not face any consequences coming from the international community for its flagrant and continued violations of international law, human rights abuses, apartheid regime, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and war crimes. Instead, it continues to receive billions of dollars in military aid to fund the IOF’s incessant brutality and wrongly weaponizes anti-Semitism against anyone who criticizes the Zionist occupation’s regime.