Al-Bustan neigborhood

Al-Bustan is the name of a neighborhood in the Arab village of Silwan, right across from the the Old City of Jerusalem. The neighborhood consists of about 90 buildings, and is the home of 1000-1500 residents. In the last few years the Municipality of Jerusalem has been threatening the demolition of the neighborhood, claiming that the buildings were built without permits, and that the area is designated as an open public space and archeological park.

What do we want?

First of all – that the current house-demolition policy of the Municipality of Jerusalem in East Jerusalem be immediately stopped. Over a thousand people currently live in fear about their future. There is no justification for this. While the claim that the buildings were built without permits may indeed be correct, it is entirely irrelevant: Over the years, the Municipality of Jerusalem has consistently neglected the needs of the Arab population of East Jerusalem, and has not developed appropriate new residential areas for its benefit.

Second - we want the Municipality to reconsider the alternative Town Plan Scheme presented by the residents of Al-Bustan, and move to approve it within a short period of time. The plan will allow the residents of Al-Bustan to remain on their lands and receive all of the services to which they are entitled as residents of Jerusalem.

Background, from Ir-Amim

http://www.ir-amim.org.il/

1967 - 2004
Following Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli government planning authorities devised new town plans for the area surrounding the Old City. These plans, notably Town Plan #9, approved in 1976, aimed to consolidate Israeli interests in the historic basin. This area includes central Palestinian neighborhoods such as Silwan, A-Tor, and Sheikh Jarrakh. A key element of these plans was the designation of the area on all sides of the Old City walls as open public land – reaching, in the south-east, to the Kidron Valley, in an area known as the King's Valley or Al-Bustan.

In the intervening years, due to tremendous population pressures (Palestinian population in East Jerusalem grew from 70,000 in 1967 to over 250,000 today), and Israeli restrictions on Palestinian construction throughout East Jerusalem, scores of Palestinian homes were constructed without building permits in the open land of the Bustan area of Silwan.
Until 1994, Israeli authorities took virtually no action against the Palestinian homeowners. After 1994, legal action was initiated against 23 homes.

2004 - 2008
On November 11, 2004, in an official letter to the head of the Department of Building Inspection, City Engineer Uri Shitreet ordered the clearing of the Palestinian homes from the Bustan area. This directive was discovered in 2005, and Palestinian residents appealed to the Israeli Attorney General to halt the planned demolitions that then threatened 88 homes in the area.

Largely due to international objections, Mayor Uri Lupolianski agreed to suspend the demolition plans, and to allow the residents to present an alternative Town Plan Scheme (TPS) that would take into consideration the development needs of the residents, as well as the needs for public park land. This alternative plan (TPS 11641) was presented to the City Planning Department in August 2008.

In the same period, the city initiated its own town plan for the area (TPS 11555), in line with the renewed conception of the Bustan area as part of a National Park. On August 11, 2008 the City Engineer wrote in an official letter that the residents' plan could not be considered over the coming months, since the city's own plan for the area is currently under consideration.

Latest Developments

In November 2008, the Jerusalem Municipality returned to its policy of house demolitions, demolishing two buildings in the neighborhood. This seems to signify the beginning of a new stage in the Municipality's policy concerning the area

On February 17, 2009 the Jerusalem District Planning Commission rejected, by a vote of 12 to 1, the Town Plan Scheme put forward by the Palestinian residents of Al-Bustan. The Muncipality of Jerusaelm claims that this was becasue the area is "designated to serve as a green lung for the benefit of Silwan residents, and as a national park".

Political Significance of the Area
The entire Silwan / Ras al Amud area to the south and east of the Old City is an area of tremendous significance in any Palestinian / Israeli negotiations over Jerusalem.

Under the Clinton parameters, this area of about 50,000 Palestinian residents would be slated to be part of a future Palestinian capital. However, because of its proximity to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and due to its historical significance as the site of the ancient city of Jerusalem in the time of King David, unilateral Israeli efforts have been underway over the past decades to strengthen the Jewish character of the area. These efforts involve both Israeli governmental actions, as well as government-sanctioned actions of religious settler organizations, notably El-Ad and Ateret Cohanim.

The pace of these actions has accelerated over the last years; and include designating much of the Silwan neighborhood, including the Bustan area, as a National Park. Currently, the City of David National Park, created in and around Palestinian homes adjacent to the Bustan area, is operated by the El-Ad organization. In addition, El-Ad, in conjunction with the Israel Antiquities Authority, has been carrying out disputed digs under and around Palestinian homes in Silwan. Finally, municipal authorities have lately been expropriating Palestinian lands for parking and other facilities to serve the City of David project; and plans have been advanced to build Jewish institutions in this already crowded neighborhood.

At the same time, the development needs of the Palestinian population of Silwan as a whole, and the Bustan area in particular, have been neglected and denied. This creates a situation in which Palestinian residents, many of whom are living today in some of the poorest and most crowded conditions in East Jerusalem, have no legal options for meeting their critical housing needs.

Who are we?

Activists from different organizations, opposed to the house-demolition policy of the Municipality of Jerusaelm in East Jerusalem in general, and in Al-Bustan neighborhood in particular.

For more information, please contact us at:
albustan.silwan@gmail.com