Silwan is the biggest and most populous of Palestinian villages and is the closest village to the walls and gates of the Old City of Jerusalem due to its location on the South Eastern side of al Aqsa Mosque and its wall.

Silwan became a part of the Jerusalem governorate and municipality during the end of the Ottoman Empire era and alongside surrounding villages formed what was known as the Wadi Row which was a regional tribal alliance of villages east of Jerusalem that overlooked the Jordan valley. This alliance contributed to putting an end to bandits who threatened convoys moving between Palestine and eat Jordan.     

The total population of Silwan is about 45,000 people distributed into 13 tribes of the original inhabitants of the village in addition to residents from outside of the village who have moved there due to refuge or other reasons. The tribes of Silwan are: al- Mahreesheyeh, al-Radwaniyyeh, al-Seyyameyyeh, Abu Qalbain, al-Mahareef, al-Najadeh, al-‘Abaseyyeh, al-Saraheen, al-Theyabeyyeh, al-‘Alliyouat, al-Qara’een, Samareen, and Jalajel.   

The Jerusalem Municipality cut the city into various parts which are: Ras al Amoud, Ein al Wezeh, al Thawry, Be’r Yacoub, al Sheikh, and others which are bounded on the northern and western parts of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives (al Tour). On the East of Jerusalem: the villages of Abu Dies and al Ezariyyeh and on the south Jabal al Mukabber.   

Hay al Bustan is an area made up of 46 dunums and has over 100 homes in which between 1000 to 1500 Palestinians live in. Al Bustan is part of basin number 29986 according to the British mandate organization and is historically land belonging to families from Silwan for hundreds of years, if not more. The homes there are all inherited from the owners’ fathers and grandfathers from before the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. As a result of the natural growth of the population and scarcity of land caused by the Israeli confiscation of the land, families are forced to share the same buildings in this territory or by adding one or more rooms to the side or above the already existing homes, if permitted by the occupation authorities.     

These plans aim at turning the Arab Palestinian population in Jerusalem into a weak minority, if not to get rid of them once and for all, and in order to implement this goal the occupation authorities are using the prejudice “organizational and development” policies. In the demographic aspect of these policies aimed at tightening the noose on the Palestinian population by all means, the occupation authorities put an end to the extension of urban development in order to displace Palestinians out of the city, thus emptying Jerusalem of its indigenous population. On the other hand, the occupation authorities and has worked at an accelerated pace for the confiscation of more land for the benefit of the Zionist settlements, in order to create a colonialist “security belt” around East Jerusalem. For this purpose 35% of Palestinian land in Jerusalem was confiscated (about 23500 acres) in order to build settlements and to encourage extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews to live there.

This programmed ethnic cleansing has been the main Zionist objective sought by the occupation authorities and municipality since they first occupied Jerusalem. This  ethnic cleansing takes many and various forms within a clear strategy to empty the land of the Arab Palestinian population. These steps include not granting building permits for the Palestinian population, and by reducing the allowable building areas of land where the Palestinians are allowed to build to less than one third of their lands, thus denying them the possibility of the construction of housing. As well as in the enactment of further racist laws such as exorbitant taxes and demolition of houses, in order to tighten the noose on the indigenous population to force them to leave the city which led to what we see today from the threat of the demolition of entire neighborhoods and the displacement of populations.

This ethnic cleansing has yet to be defined and is one of the ugliest crimes committed against humanity throughout history. The silence in the Arab and international communities in a way gives legitimacy to the occupation and its crimes.

We at the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) according to our national responsibilities towards these humanitarian and moral crimes call for the following:

First: the need for the unification and integration of efforts between the civil society organizations and coalitions on the one hand and the official and national parties, on the other, to stand up and fight in a battle of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the occupation (including the demolition of houses, annexation of land and eviction of the people).  

Second: in accordance to the above, the extension of popular movements’ resistance towards the Judiazation plans for Jerusalem.

Third: Revitalization of the media efforts in order to expose the Zionist policies and to consolidate the public opinion on the local and global levels to address them.

Fourth: To launch continuous programs and events (protests, demonstrations, and rallies) in areas threatened with demolition. This requires official and popular support for all people who have been or will be affected by these racist policies in Jerusalem in general and Hay al Bustan in particular.

Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network