City of David

Israeli security forces destroy a house in Silwan, February 14, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Under cover of war, Israel is demolishing home after home in Silwan
The government has accelerated plans to depopulate the East Jerusalem neighborhood, displacing dozens of Palestinian residents this year.
By Jessica Buxbaum September 6, 2024
Tourists look at a view of the Dome of the Rock and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, from the Mount of Olives observatory, January 28, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
What my daughter’s school trip taught me about anti-occupation activism
Our liberal Tel Aviv school wanted students to visit a project run by a settler group in occupied East Jerusalem. Here's what I learned from speaking up.
By David Zonsheine December 27, 2022
The Givati Parking Lot excavation grounds next to the City of David National Park in the Palestinian village of Silwan, across the street from the Old City walls surrounding the Al Aqsa mosque compound, July 14, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
PODCAST: Excavating Israel’s underground settlements
On the latest episode, Israeli archeologist Yonathan Mizrahi talks about Israel's weaponization of archeology to expand Jewish settlement.
By Natasha Roth-Rowland January 20, 2022
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Workers at the City of David archaeological site, near Jerusalem's Old City, on July 22, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
In East Jerusalem, the settler project is expanding underground
Elad's politicization of archaeology, most notably through the City of David park in East Jerusalem, erases Palestinians and their history.
By Natasha Roth-Rowland October 23, 2020
A Jewish ultra-Orthodox man visits the mountain fortress of Herodium, near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, November 29, 2010. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)
Israel’s army of archaeological looters
Using archaeology to validate its claim to the land, Israel is displacing artifacts from the occupied West Bank and erasing Palestinian identity.
By Dima Srouji October 1, 2020
Israeli Border Police walk through the City of David settlement in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, March 28, 2007. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
How settler groups could use annexation to deepen Palestinian dispossession
For decades, settlers have used the Israeli legal system to take over Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. Activists fear those tactics may soon be used in the rest of the West Bank.
By Uri Agnon June 24, 2020
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (left) with White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt (center) and Senator Lindsey Graham seen during the opening ceremony of an the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David archaeological site in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, June 30, 2019. (Flash90)
Using archeology in the service of nationalism
The inauguration of a supposed ancient Jewish ‘Pilgrimage Road’ by Ambassador David Friedman and White House envoy Jason Greenblatt is a reminder that archeology is never as neutral as some would like to believe. By Chemi Shiff and Yonathan Mizrachi We tend to think of archeology as a neutral discipline. Archeologists dig up artifacts, date them, and try to build…
By +972 Magazine July 5, 2019
Palestinian workers squeeze themselves to pass through the Israeli checkpoint of Bethlehem while heading to their work in Israeli cities, Bethlehem, West Bank, March 19, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)
50 reasons to resist the occupation in its 50th year
Fifty reasons to join a growing coalition united in creating a more just future in the region, in order to make the 50th year of the occupation its last. By Talia Krevsky and Isaac Kates Rose 1. January 1: The onset of the 50th year of violating the Fourth Geneva Convention through Israel’s military occupation over…
By +972 Magazine March 30, 2017
Elad Chairman David Be'eri meets with Silwan Mukhtar Abu Jamil in City of David, Jerusalem, April 22, 2010. (Abir Sultan/Flash 90)
A lifetime achievement award for normalizing settlements
David Be’eri won the state’s highest award for doing what decades ago would have seemed impossible: inspiring the Israeli people to identify with the settler enterprise. By Yonathan Mizrachi Following last week’s announcement that David Be’eri, the founder of the settler organization Elad, had won the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement, some who closely monitor Israel’s…
By +972 Magazine March 20, 2017
The Old City of Jerusalem, September 26, 2014. (Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
East Jerusalem streets given Hebrew names amid tensions
The city council pours oil on the fire by approving Hebrew street names in Palestinian neighborhoods as tensions run high. The move is part and parcel of efforts to ‘Judaize’ the eastern half of the city, which Palestine claims as its future capital. With all eyes on Jerusalem as tensions in the city continue to…
By Natasha Roth-Rowland September 21, 2015
An Israeli police van outside the City of David archeological park in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. (File photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)
Parks and Occupation: Archaeology is the new security
The Biblical blueprint is being dragged up around our feet, seeking to use what is under the ground as evidence of divine right and the political and territorial sovereignty it supposedly affords us. The past makes for prime real estate when you’re developing a national mythology. It’s also a fine way to exert control over…
By Natasha Roth-Rowland March 7, 2015
Tower of David, Jerusalem. (photo: Maglanist)
The Davidization of Jerusalem: On the politics of symbols
It’s no coincidence that images of the Tower of David are popping up everywhere in the holy city: right-wing settlers and real estate moguls alike have been using the symbol to gain power. By Dana Hercbergs Like mushrooms after the rain, the Tower of David seems to be popping up in new places in Jerusalem. Its…
By +972 Magazine December 28, 2014
Daoud Al-Ghoul, shown near properties taken over by Israel settlers in Jerusalem's Old City. (photo: Activestills.org)
Three Palestinian activists exiled from Jerusalem for five months
Without explanation, three Jerusalemite Palestinians are given five-month bans from the city of their birth and residence. One is banned from the West Bank as well. Text and photos by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org In early December, three Jerusalem-born Palestinians received orders from Israeli authorities banning them from the city for a period of five months.…
By Activestills December 15, 2014
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  4. ‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught
  5. Under cover of war, Israel is demolishing home after home in Silwan
  1. ‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’
  2. ‘This is also America’s war’: Why the U.S. isn’t stopping Israel’s Gaza onslaught
  3. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  4. Inside the brutal siege of Jenin
  5. Hersh is gone, sacrificed on the altar of Israel’s ‘total victory’
  1. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  2. Israeli society’s dehumanization of Palestinians is now absolute
  3. ‘Order from Amazon’: How tech giants are storing mass data for Israel’s war
  4. Three Israeli army refusers: ‘We will not participate in genocide’
  5. The taps have run dry in Jerusalem’s largest Palestinian neighborhood