Silwan
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Silwan (Kfar Shiloah (Hebrew: כפר השילוח) is an Arab neighborhood on the outskirts of the Old City of Jerusalem. Silwan has a population of 45,000.
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[edit] Geography
Historically, Silwan was located on the eastern slope of the Kidron Valley, near the outlet of the Gihon Spring at the Pool of Siloam, opposite the City of David. The villagers took advantage of the arable land to grow vegetables for market in Jerusalem.[1] Nineteenth century travelers describe it as verdant and cultivated, [2] [3] and perched on a steep, slippery scarp cut into hillside.[4]
[edit] Yemenite Jewish settlement
In 1882, a group of Jews arrived from Yemen. Initially, they lived in tents. Later, when the rainy season began, they moved into the ancient burial caves on the east side of the valley.[5] In 1884, the Yemenites moved into new stone houses built for them on the eastern slope of the Kidron, north of the Arab village, by a charity called Ezrat Niddahim. This settlement was called Kfar Hashiloach or the Yemenite Village. Construction costs were kept low by using the Shiloach as a water source instead of digging cisterns. An 1891 photo shows the homes on an otherwise vacant stretch of hillside.[6] An early 20th century travel guide writes: In the “village of Silwan , east of Kidron … some of the fellah dwellings [are] old sepulchers hewn in the rocks. During late years a great extension of the village southward has sprung up, owing to the settlement here of a colony of poor Jews from Yemen, etc. many of whom have built homes on the steep hillside just above and east of Bir Eyyub,”[7]
[edit] Jordanian rule
The Yemenite Jews left Silwan during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and Arabs moved into the vacated buildings. After the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Silwan became part of the West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It remained under the Jordanian rule until 1967, when Israel captured the Old City. Until then, the village had delegates in the Jerusalem City Council.
[edit] Urban expansion
In the twentieth century, Silwan grew from a small farming village into a urban neighborhood. The growth was largely northward, toward Jerusalem. Along the ridge of the southern peak of the Mount of Olives to the east of the Kidron Valley, Arab Silwan encompasses both the old Yemenite village and the vacant land that separated the Yemenite settlement from old Silwan, from the ridge west of the Ophel, up to the southern wall of the Temple Mount.
[edit] References
- ^ Cyclopaedia of Biblical , Theological and Ecclesistical Literature, John McClintock, Harper and Brothers, 1889, p. 745
- ^ Handbook to the Mediterranean: Its Cities, Coasts and Islands, Robert Lambert Playfair, John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1892, p. 70.
- ^ Biblical Geography and History, Charles Foster Kent , 1911 , p. 219
- ^ The Holy Land and the Bible: A Book of Scripture Illustrations, Cunningham Geikie , 1888 , New York, James Pott & Co. Publishers p.558
- ^ Messianism, Holiness, Charisma, and Community: The American-Swedish Colony in Jerusalem, 1881-1933, Yaakov Ariel and Ruth Kark , Church History, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Dec., 1996), p. 645
- ^ Photo can be found in “Documents of the Dream, Pioneer Jewish photographers in the Land of Israel, 1890-1933,” Vivienne Silver-Brody, Magnes Press, JPS, Philadelphia,1988, p. 40
- ^ Cook's Handbook for Palestine and Syria , Thomas Cook Ltd., 1907, p. 105
