Academic Archaeological Sabotage at Silwan/Ir David

Received:

We are writing following the decision of the Archaeology Institute of the Tel-Aviv University (TAU) to join the excavations of the Antiquities Authority and the settler organization Elad in the Palestinian village of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

As reported last week (October 25th) by Haaretz, "TAU to take part in East Jerusalem dig funded by pro-settlement group":

A right-wing organization active in settling Jews in controversial parts of East Jerusalem is providing the funds for excavations by Tel Aviv University archaeologists on a contentious site near the City of David…
This is the first time a university has decided to formally take part in such an excavation. The dig will be conducted by Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology in coordination with the Israel Antiquities Authority, which will transfer funds from Elad to the university…
TAU archaeologist Prof. Rafael Greenberg … is more outspoken: "This is a clear politicization of research. Whoever is familiar with the area is aware that all the diggings are annexed to Elad, supervised by Elad, and separate from the site of the City of David. In practice, the project is to become part of Elad's settlement drive."

In the past, you have expressed support for our demand that excavations in ancient Jerusalem be removed from Elad's control. We now ask that you express your opposition to the university's plan by directly writing to the people who will make the decision. Acting swiftly may prevent the excavations from taking place:
Prof. Aron Shai, Rector - aashai@post.tau.ac.il
Prof. Eyal Zisser, Dean of Humanities - DeanH@tauex.tau.ac.il
Prof. Oded Lipschits, Director, Institute of Archaeology - lipschit@post.tau.a

In order to help us in coordinating efforts to prevent the excavation in Silwan, we would be grateful if you can send us a copy of your letter to Emek Shaveh at info@alt-arch.org.

Additional information on Silwan, archaeology and settlements can be found in Emek Shave's report, "Archaelogy in the Shadow of the Conflict" and Ir Amim's report, "Shady Dealings in Silwan".

Sincerely,
Yonathan Mizrahi,
Emek Shaveh Organization
info@alt-arch.org

Feel free to use the addresses to express support for the dig as planned.

^

Dig? We Must? We Must!

In this book,

Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem’s History Began by Ronny Reich, Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Biblical Archaeology Society, 2011, 368 pp.

you can read of Reich’s personal history with the site which is that

...Reich first encountered the site in 1969 as an accidental tourist who accompanied Amihai Mazar on an outing to the Gihon Spring. Reich next encountered the site in 1995 as an accidental excavator who the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) sent to dig there. The task fell to Reich because no one at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology agreed to do it. The task lasted longer than Reich expected and proved to be professionally, intellectually, physically and emotionally challenging. The toll these challenges took is expressed in occasional outbursts against named individuals, and in Reich’s lament, “Shiloh enjoyed the support, and especially the favor of the entire archaeological establishment and all his colleagues. In contrast, I did not always have the feeling this was so in the IAA.”

And you do know why the establishment didn't appreciate digging there.

^

Media-backed Violence and Twisted History

Isabel Kershner has a report in the New York Times on the Kach march through Ir David/Silwan:-

Israeli Rightists Stir Tensions in East Jerusalem

A small group of ultra-right-wing Israelis marched through a volatile neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Sunday, arousing passions over the future of the contested city as an American envoy wrapped up an inconclusive three-day visit aimed at getting peace talks under way.

I will return to that "arousing passions" in a moment but let me deal with another element in her story.

She writes (and the foreign desk editor approved for publication as we media monitors should know that many keyboards a story make) that the marchers proceeded:-

...through the Wadi Hilwe section of Silwan, a predominantly Arab neighborhood. Wadi Hilwe sits on what Jews believe to be the ruins of the biblical City of David, in the shadow of the Temple Mount, or the Noble Sanctuary, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. In recent years a Jewish settler group has sponsored excavations in the area and acquired property that is now populated by hundreds of Jews.

Anyone who knows the area knows that Ms. Kershner (or Mrs. Hirsh Goodman) is really splitting geographical hairs on that. A "section" within a "neighborhood"? Sounds as if its another district of "Palestine".

But more importantly, many non-Jews also believe that the location is David's City and there are quite provable and firm scientific elements of evidence to that claim.

Moreover, the property acquired was previously purchased by Jews a century or so ago and Karaite Jews had been living on the east side of the valley for hundreds of years. In the 1870s, Rahamim Natan Meyuchas purchased property in Silwan. In 1937, his son, Yosef, published a book a reminisces of that early period. After 1882, Yemenite Jews moved in and founded Kfar Shiloah. By 1920, over 200 Jewish families of all origin lived in the neighborhood.

Following Arab violence in 1920, 1929 and 1936-37, Jews were finally expelled by the British Mandatory authority form the location.

Jews began repurchasing their previously-owned property and in 1991, moved back and I participated in the public support demonstration as I was working with Deputy-Minister Geula Cohen at the time and we all literally slid down the slope into the houses bought. Geula later broke a leg there.

Why didn't Kershner insert a half-sentence mention of 140-year old Jewish residency at the village?

And a last point, here is an Arab reaction:

Dimitri Diliani, a Jerusalem representative of Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian movement, said the march proved that despite Israel’s claim on the area, it did not have sovereignty there. “Where else in the world would you need 2,000 armed, fully equipped police officers to secure a failed march of 70 of your own citizens in an area that you claim as your capital?” he asked.

Well, since Arabs have marched through Jerusalem with no stone-throwing, it isn't a matter of this being proof the area is not in Jerusalem or in the sovereign area of the state of Israel but simply a matter of Arab violence in the cause of denying Jews their rights anywhere.

And that violence, even assisted by the foreign media and local, will not win.



- - -

The Romans Had 'Settlements', Not Jews

"Settlements" is not a term to be applied to locations of Jewish residency in Eretz-Yisrael. Note:

A large structure from the Roman period has been discovered in City of David in Jerusalem, the first of its kind to be found in Israel. The structure was exposed in the excavations in the City of David compound in the Old City...[and] the columns, the capitals, the mosaics and the other findings (*) clearly point to the fact that it was a Roman edifice, part of a widespread style of 300 AD.

Researches believe that the structure holds archeological evidence of the earthquake that toppled the area in the year 336 AD...

He added that "the discovery of the Roman structure in the City of David is a significant contribution to the understanding of the scope of construction in the Roman city. The edifice is the first archeological testimony of the continuing expansion of settlements toward the southern parts of the city toward the end of the Roman period."

(*) Found here:

New Statesman Buys Old Propaganda

I just came back from attending the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism ceremony at David's City. Wonderful program, awesome winners. More about that later. And more about Choshen, a house with seven Jewish families on Mount of Olives, just at the final left turn before the cemetery parking plaza. It's the house with a huge Israeli flag that can be spotted from everywhere.

But when I checked around, I found this article: "Settlers or squatters?" by Edward Platt. In brief:

The politics of demolition and construction in East Jerusalem have always been fraught. Now Israeli settlers are using archaeological excavation as cover for a programme of expansion and dispossession – but the inhabitants of one Palestinian village won’t go quietly.

Some extracts:

Biblical chronology suggests that King David – the first ruler of the united kingdom of Israel – conquered Jerusalem in 1000BC and made it his capital. Though most reputable authorities regard David as a folkloric figure, El-Ad takes it for granted that he lived somewhere among the stone-clad walkways and winding streets of the historic city centre.

and

Daniel Seidemann of Ir Amim, an Israeli organisation that campaigns for a “stable and equitable” Jerusalem, believes that the settlers aim to connect it with the Hasmonean Tunnel beneath the Temple Mount, and another section of tunnel in the north of the Old City: “They want to be able to enter the Old City near Damascus Gate, traverse it without encountering a single Palestinian, emerge at the Western Wall, saunter across the plaza, re-enter the burrow and exit at Silwan.”

and

Alternative Archaeology, says El-Ad has a “vested interest in the site – they live here, and they combine archaeology and construction”. Architecture, he argues, has become just another way of dispossessing the marginalised inhabitants of Silwan. Jawad Siyam agrees: “We know that this area is full of history. We’re supposed to be proud of it, but, we’re afraid of it, because it’s used against us. The stones are more important than human beings.” [oh, so now he admits there is real Jewish history here]

Well, me being me, I left there this comment:

You have written: "...no one disputes ownership of the Temple Mount – save for a small minority of Jewish fanatics who would like to demolish the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild Solomon’s Temple in their place."
If I understand you correctly, you seem to imply that the "ownership" of the Temple Mount is Muslim and that is "undisputed" and that only a fanatical minority of Jews believes otherwise and that they wish to demolish the Dome of the Rock. I would suggest you are wrong. Everyone knows, or should know, that the Temple Mount was where the two Jewish temples stood, and the site where Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers. And when he did that there was no mosque to be seen in the vicinity. When Muslims conquered and then occupied the Land of Israel in the 7th century, they usurped the area of Mount Moriah to build a mosque and other structures. Does that award them "ownership" or more simply, is it the legal term of belligerent occupation? If it is but the third most holy site for Muslims but the most sacred location for Jews, who has a better claim?

Why are archeological digs not permitted there (but the Waqf Trust could dump tons of dirt out of the compound to get rid of Jewish artifacts)? Why cannot a Jew be allowed any specific Jewish act but be restricted to appear only as a tourist, as one without any specific identity? Why is the Jewish past touted as a myth whereas Islamic visions are somehow fully accepted as truth?

One other point: if the author quotes only radical leftwing Israelis who oppose any Jewish presence in east Jerusalem neighborhoods and Arab residents, is this a balanced, well-researched piece of journalism or rather a propaganda screed of ideological opinion? Will an other perspective be allowed to appear? Will the "facts" here be challenged?

These issues are important and the readership of this periodical deserve better.

And here's another fanatic opponent of Jews in Jerusalem, one Max Blumenthal in the Huffington Post.

Jerusalem, Israel: Where You Find The Past

Two new City of David finds:

A bulla, seal, with a ship:




And try I Kings 7:42 "and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars;"






Source

Clergyman Arik Ascherman's Opinion

Elad is an extreme right wing NGO which is openly committed to "Judaizing" East Jerusalem and especially Silwan because it is "Ir David", the ancient City of David. The State has given over to them administration of the archaeological parks and digs, and they attempt to buy out and/or expel Palestinian residents of Silwan. Sometimes the sales are legal, in other cases they are not, and in other cases they may be technically legal but achieved through extremely unsavory methods.

Source: Encounter-EMEM for international Israel-Palestine peace activities.

Oh my goodness. Jews "Judaizing" Jerusalem.