Ir Amim is pleased to announce the release of “Broken Trust: State Involvement in Private Settlement in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan,” a joint Ir Amim – Peace Now publication. Batan al-Hawa, situated in the heart of Silwan just outside the Old City, is now the site of the largest attempted settler takeover in East Jerusalem, threatening to displace 100 families – roughly 600 Palestinians – from their homes. By the end of 2015, the Ateret Cohanim settler organization had quadrupled the number of housing units in its possession, taking over a total of some 27 units in six buildings. In addition, 12 currently pending eviction claims threaten an additional 51 families. This well organized Ateret Cohanim campaign represents not only the displacement of an entire community but also the direct involvement of the Israeli government in facilitating private settlement in the Historic Basin. The settlement in Batan al-Hawa is an integral part of efforts by settler organizations and Israeli authorities to consolidate Jewish control of the Old City and the surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods, to create an irreversible reality in the Holy Basin around the Old City that deliberately subverts efforts to negotiate an agreed political resolution on Jerusalem. Our joint report reveals that the government has acted through the General Custodian and the Registrar of Trusts (both under the Ministry of Justice) to facilitate settlers’ seizure of Batan al-Hawa, as well as increasing its security budget by 119% since 2009 to ensure the protection of radical Jews settling in the hearts of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. In parallel, the State’s privatization of national parks around the Historic Basin to settler organizations enables the cooptation and politicization of archeology, the erasure of Palestinian history and neighborhoods, and the dissemination of a singular nationalist Jewish narrative to hundreds of thousands of Israelis and tourists each year. This trend must also be understood as an essential component of the settlement enterprise. The Historic Basin is the area in which the Jewish settlement enterprise has been most active in East Jerusalem over the course of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent tenure. Data from an upcoming release on the marked growth of the settlement enterprise reveal that: Since 2009, there has been an almost twofold increase in the number of settler housing units in the Historic Basin and a 70% increase in the number of settlers living there.

During this period 60 Palestinian families were evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan (in Wadi Hilweh and Batan Al-Hawa).

Eight additional families were evicted from their homes in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Today, approximately 300 families are under threat of eviction or imminent demolition in the Historic Basin. The 51 families in Batan al-Hawa currently threatened with eviction – out of a total 100 families at risk – constitute the greatest concentration of families facing eviction. The emerging reality is disastrous not only for the residents of Batan al-Hawa, but for all those who believe in the imperative of striving to reach a political solution to the Conflict. All efforts must be taken to halt this trend – a mechanism being used to pre-emptively plant new facts on the ground, further crippling opening conditions for negotiating a two state solution. Please address all inquiries to: Betty Herschman Director of International Relations & Advocacy Ir Amim (City of Nations/City of Peoples) betty@ir-amim.org.il 054-308-5096 www.ir-amim.org.il Facebook: tinyurl.com/IrAmimEng Twitter: @IrAmimAlerts