Wadi Hilweh Information Center

Notes

Wadi Hilweh, an area that is part of the Palestinian Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, lies just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem near the Dung Gate/Bab Haret al-Maghariba (also called the Silwan Gate).

Since 1967, but intensively in the past decade, without informing or taking permission from its residents, Israel has transformed Wadi Hilweh into an underground excavation site whose tunnels compromise the foundations of Palestinian homes. As well, the settler organization Elad has secretly collaborated with the Israel National Parks Association to develop a national biblical theme park there called the City of David Park, which reflects only Jewish history and heritage in the city while completely ignoring and erasing Palestinian and other groups’ heritage and roots in the city. Moreover, illegal Jewish settlements are expanding throughout the neighborhood, placing hundreds of Palestinian homes at high risk of demolition under various pretexts, such as lacking the required building permits or for “public benefit” (which means for the benefit of the Jewish public).

To counter those efforts, Wadi Hilweh Information Center (Silwanic) was established in 2009 to provide information about the history and current status of the village of Silwan. It also documents and exposes the Israeli occupations’ human rights violations focusing on the illegal settlement expansion and appropriation of Palestinian properties in Jerusalem in general and in Silwan in particular.