from territorial contiguity to historical continuity - asserting israeli control through national...

8/10/2019 From Territorial Contiguity to Historical Continuity - Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in East Jerusalem

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PicturesquePalestine,

Sinaiand

Egypt.

From Territorial Contiguity to

Historical Continuity

Asserting Israeli Control through National Parks in

East Jerusalem


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Writing and Research: Yonathan MizrachiEditing: Ayala Sussmann

ranslation: Jessica Bonn

Photography: Emek Shaveh

Graphic Design: Lior Cohen

Mapping: Elka Gotryd, Hagit Oran, Lior Cohen

March 2014

Emek Shaveh (cc) | Email: [email protected]| website www.alt-arch.org

Emek Shaveh is an organization ocusing on the role o archaeology in Israeli society and in

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We view archaeology as a resource or building bridges andstrengthening bonds between different peoples and cultures, and we see it as an importantactor impacting the dynamics o the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tis publication has been co-unded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in el Aviv, Te Swiss FederalDepartment o Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and Cordaid. Te opinions expressed in the publication Fromerritorial Contiguinty to Historical Continuity are the sole responsibility o Emek Shaveh (cc) andcan under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position o the co-unders.

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>> Introduction

>> From Mount Zion to Silwan>> Te Kidron

>> Emek zurim National Park

>> Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park

>> Summary and Conclusions

>> Appendix A Main Actors Operating in the National Parks

Contents

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Introduction

Te Subcommittee or Objections o the District Planning and Building Committeeapproved the establishment o the Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park on the lands o the

villages o Issawiyya and A-ur on November 15, 2013.1

Tis marked the conclusion oa two-year struggle waged by residents o the villages, human rights organizations, andpolitical groups against the establishment o a national park in these areas.2Te processo establishing national parks in East Jerusalem began almost 40 years ago with thedeclaration o the Jerusalem Walls National Park (JWNP). As part o this park, whichconstitutes a green belt around the Old City. Te Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park was thefinal stage in the seizure o areas around the Old City in the so-called historic basin oJerusalem.

oday, the area covered by the Jerusalems national parks begins with the Abu orneighborhood in the southwest o the Historic Basin and ends with the aorementionedMount Scopus Slopes National Park in the northeast. In the last ew decades the Natureand Parks Authority and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)3have advanced thedevelopment, preservation and excavation o the antiquities located on park lands.4Nowthat legal and planning rights on these lands have been secured, efforts to excavate anddevelop archeological sites will no doubt be accelerated. ourism and archaeologicalactivities will constitute a key means in the process o inusing historical-national contentas deemed appropriate by the State o Israel. As such, the creation o territorial contiguity

o these parks in East Jerusalem is compatible and in line with the ideology o historicalcontinuity in terms o Jewish presence in these areas.

In this document, we will ocus on archaeological projects conducted in the nationalparks that set excavation and preservation as their goals, and on the connection o theseprojects to encouraging and supporting the Israeli hold on the area around the Old City.Needless to say, most o this area is located beyond the Green Line - the border betweenIsrael and Jordan until 1967 - and is part o East Jerusalem.

1 Y. Altman, Approved: National Park that will Block Arab Contiguity in Jerusalem[Heb.], walla, November 15, 2013.2 On the decision-making process or approving the park, see Emek Shavehs publicationHow the Decision was Made to

Declare the Mount Scopus Slopes a National Park.3 For details, please see Appendix A Main Actors Operating in the National Parks4 In the past, Emek Shaveh published a report about the national parks in East Jerusalem: Where Are the AntiquitiesNational Parks between the Old City o Jerusalem and Area E1,2011.

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From Mount Zion to Silwan

Te valley separating West Jerusalem rom the Village o Silwan is known as the HinnomValley, in Arabic Wadi Rababa. It separates Mt. Zion rom the neighborhood o Abu or,

and connects with the Village o Silwan to the east. Te Green Line, which was the borderbetween Israel and Jordan until 1967, ran through the valley, and part o Hinnom Valleywas declared as a No Mans Land. As o 1974, the valley has been part o the JerusalemWalls National Park (JWNP). With the western part o the valley now in Israeli territory,Israel began to act in the valley and expand touristic development to the east, towards theVillage o Silwan.

Exposure of the Byzantine-Hellenistic Jerusalem Walls on Mount Zion

On November 25, 2013, the IAA began archaeological excavations on Mt. Zion. Te IAAhad also overseen the archaeological excavations conducted there rom 2007-8, financedby the Elad organization.5Te excavations are now being carried out in open areas southo the church o Saint Peter in Gallicantu. o the excavators surprise, as soon as workbegan, dozens o Palestinian residents arrived at the site, one o whom claimed that itwas his private land and charged that they had no right to excavate there. An argumentensued at the site, the police arrived, a number o residents were detained, and the manclaiming rights to the property ailed to have the excavation halted via legal means.6Teexcavation continued undisturbed.

As a rule, the IAA does not carry out excavations financed by private organizations thatdo not own the land. Te decision to conduct excavations on lands o undeterminedownership, as in the case o Mount Zion, gave Elad a oothold in public lands and a way tomake itsel part o the tourist route it manages. A similar case occurred in Silwan, in theexcavation o Birket al-Hamra / Shiloah Pool, where Elad underwrote the excavations eventhough the land was public. Tis site became part o a tourism route with paid entry.7

Te varied archaeological excavations on Mt. Zion, those conducted by the IAA and thosecarried out by oreign expeditions (mainly in the 19th and early 20th cent.) revealed,

among other finds, a Byzantine wall and a Hellenistic wall. Te Byzantine wall provesthat 5th-6th cent. CE Jerusalem included the area o Mt. Zion.8Te excavations since theend o 2013 continue along the route o the Byzantine wall, as part o a plan to develop apromenade on the slopes o Mt Zion.

5 Y. Zelinger, Jerusalem, Mt. Zion Slopes, Hadashot Archaeologiyot, 122, 2010. For details about the Elad organization,

see Appendix A Main Actors Operating in the National Parks6 WHIC, Antiquities Authority attempts to confiscate land in Silwan and the arrest o 3 citizens, Silwanic.net, 25November 20137 Emek Shaveh: No. 11 Shiloah Pool, Village o Silwan Interactive Map, 2009.8 F.J. Bliss & A.C. Dickie, Excavations at Jerusalem 1894-1897, London 1898

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Excavation on Mt. Zion

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Sambuski Cemetery

East o the excavation areas discussed above, a mere ew meters away, preservation andrestoration work is underway on the Jewish 19th cent. cemetery known as Sambuski.9In recent years, much effort has been invested in restoring the headstones and preparing

pedestrian paths rom Mt. Zion to the cemetery.10Many stone slabs were lef on theground most have been reinorced with concrete to anchor them and prevent urtherdisruption. Te tourist route running rom Mt. Zion to the east will end at the houses othe Village o Silwan in the area known as Wadi Rababa.

9 Te Magalim Institute, associated with Elad, unded and published the book Sambuski Te Story o the JewishCemetery on Mt. Zion, 2011.10 A. Mandelbaum,View: Sambuski Te Lost Cemetery o Jerusalem, ynet, April 23, 2012.

Renovation o the Sambuski Cemetery among the Houses o Silwan

Stone slabs cemented into the earth

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unnel from Silwan to Mt. Zion

In 2013, the IAA began excavation o a tunnel that veers off rom the main tunnelexcavated in Silwan in 2004-2009.11Te current excavation is unded by Elad, and is parto the Silwan tunnels and Old City excavation project.12Te route o the new tunnel is

based on excavations carried out in Silwan and Mount Zion at the end o the 19th centuryby Bliss and Dickie. It was then customary to excavate along a horizontal course, thuscreating underground tunnels. Although this method allegedly passed rom the world oarchaeological excavation, in recent years the IAA has resumed this questionable patterno excavation.

In order or the tunnel originating in Silwan to reach the Sambuski cemetery and theexcavation area on Mt. Zion, the tunnel will pass beneath homes in the western part o theWadi Hilweh neighborhood. O necessity, such excavations will take place along a several-

hundred-meter span, a most costly and complex engineering project. Te last time atunnel was excavated along several hundred meters in Silwan, the project dragged on orapproximately five years (2004 to 2009).

Bridge over Hinnom Valley

In 2008, Elad established a 120-meter-long rope bridge over the Hinnom Valley. Tisbridge served as a main tourist attraction during the summer and autumn o that year,and was subsequently removed.13Te trip through the valley included a visit to rock-

hewn graves o the 7th cent. BCE, a visit to the elaborate burial structures rom theSecond emple Period, the Akeldama burial structure dated to the Crusader Period,and actual passage on the bridge leading to Mt. Zion. In January 2014, the Israel LandsAuthority announced it was investing 6.000.000 ILS in the valley to erect a suspensionbridge, renovate the Sambuski Cemetery, and prepare pedestrian paths.14Construction othe bridge is currently being advanced by the authorities.

Akeldama Crusader Period Burial Structure

Tis burial structure is located on the southern slope o the Hinnom Valley. TeMonastery o St. Onuphrius was built near it in the late 19th cent. Te burial structure,dated to the Crusader Period,15is known as Te House o Bones (Charnel House) andis identified as a mass burial site or Christian pilgrims who died in the Holy Land.16Afer

11 Summary o meeting between Antiquities Authority and Elad, August 26, 2012; Emek Shaveh, UndergroundExcavations o JerusalemNo. 7 on map: unnel ollows Sewage system and Herodian Street.12 ime travel to ancient Jerusalem,Achbar, 200813 rip through ime to Ancient Jerusalem Sukkot 2008[Heb] summary, Akhbar 2008.14 Israel Lands Authority, srael Lands Authority will Invest in Suspension Bridge and Restoration o the Basin o

Jerusalems Old City-Hinnom Valley - near Cinamateque Compound in the City, January 26, 2014.15 A. Kloner, Jerusalem Survey, Northeastern Area, 2002, 198-199 [Heb.] and also, Archaeological Appendix or LocalOutline Plan, Akeldama Site 64, Antiquities Authority [Heb.].16 D. Bahat, Te opography and the Archaeological Evidence, in Jerusalem Book: Te Crusader and Ayyubid Period,1099-1250, Y. Prawer and H. Ben Shamai (eds.), [Heb.], 1991, 119.

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years o neglect, in 2011-2012 the IAA took steps to preserve the structure, unded by theNature and Parks Authority and the Jerusalem Development Authority.17Investment inthe site coincides with the authorities policy or touristic development o the HinnomValley and its slopes. Te Crusader structure is one o the outstanding structures on the

southern slope o the valley.

For additional and detailed inormation regarding archaeological remains in theHinnom Valley, see Emek Shavehs publication: Hinnom Valley / Wadi Rababa: A Socio-political, Archeological Overview, 2010.

17 Preservation Authority, projects, Jerusalem. Akeldama, Antiquities Authority.

Remains o the Crusader Structure near the Monastery o St. Onuphrius

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Preservation Work on the Crusader Burial Structure (Charnel House)

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The Kidron

Al-Bustan Neighborhood

Te Palestinian neighborhood o Al-Bustan is located in the Village o Silwan in the

Kidron Valley. Te neighborhood borders the Valley o Hinnom at its southwestern limits,and the City o David site at its northwestern edge. Te neighborhood is located outsideo the City o David site, and shares a border with the Jerusalem Walls National Park at itsnorth-western side. Apparently, the name Al-Bustan (the vegetable garden) reflects onthe gardens that had flourished in the valley until the beginning o the 1970s, prior to themassive construction in the neighborhood.

In 2005, the Jerusalem Municipality announced its wish to establish the Kings Garden,and to this end, its intention to demolish dozens o homes in the neighborhood. Te plan

was tabled as a result o international pressure.18

Beginning in 2009, Jerusalem MayorNir Barkat renewed contacts to advance the plan.19Te main claim o the Municipality,based on identification o the area as Te Kings Garden,20was that most o the homeswere illegal and should be demolished in any case. Te municipality claimed that thegarden should be reconstructed and integrated into the City o David National Park.Mayor Barkats plan is also on hold, ollowing international pressure, which views thedestruction o dozens o homes in the heart o Jerusalem as a political obstacle and aglaring violation o human rights.

Te City o David site, located along the slopes above the Al-Bustan neighborhood, wasexcavated many times through the past 150 years. In contrast, Al-Bustan has never beenexcavated. Its location was outside o the ancient city o Jerusalem, and its archaeologicalimportance is secondary to the findings in the City o David or even to the findings inthe Hinnom Valley. Te claim that a park resembling the biblical Kings Garden shouldbe established there remains unsubstantiated by archaeological research. Moreover,researchers have identified the location o the Kings Garden elsewhere in the city.21

While the Hinnom Valley is barely settled, and the City o David is primarily an

archaeological site, Al-Bustan is a densely populated Palestinian neighborhood.Te major reason that the authorities are prepared to invest great effort in the demolitionand clearing out o dozens o houses in Al-Bustan is that the planned park will create acontiguity o tourism sites rom the Hinnom Valley to the Kidron Valley to the City oDavid (see map below). Elad is involved in a substantial portion o these tourism andantiquities sites. Te regrettable destruction o a neighborhood based on unsubstantiated

18 A. Maimon, Te Giant and His Garden, Ir Amim, May 2012, 5.

19 N. Barkat, Development Plan or the Kings Garden, Youtube, [Heb.], March 2, 2010.20 Te Kings Garden is first mentioned in II Kings 20:4-5, as well as in the description o the flight o the Judean armyrom Jerusalem, Jer. 52:7-8.21 A. Lipschitz and N. Neeman, From Baal Peratzim to Beit Ha-Kerem Incarnations o the Ancient Name o RamatRachel, [Heb.], Beit Mikra 65, 2012.

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historical identification points to crude manipulation o the historical story at the expenseo the local population.

Jerusalems historic basin is the heart o the political conflict and the struggle or Silwan/ City o David is a central part thereo. Tereore, the possibility o creating a green belt(the Kings Garden) in place o a Palestinian neighborhood is perceived by the JerusalemMunicipality as essential. Removal o the neighborhood will cut off the contiguity oPalestinian residents between the neighborhoods o Wadi Hilweh in Silwan and theremaining parts o the village.

Location o Al-Bustan / the Kings Garden between the Hinnom Valley and the Kidron 22

22 From Development Plan or the Kings Garden,Jerusalem Development Authority, March 2, 2010.

Al-Bustan Neighborhood

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el Aviv University Excavation

In December 2012, el Aviv University began collaborating with Elad and the AntiquitiesAuthority in the excavation o the southeastern edge o the City o David site, in the areaknown as Area E. Te el Aviv University site is located outside the ence o the City o

David site, but within the boundaries o the national park, and is immediately adjacentto the streets o the Al-Bustan neighborhood. Te first excavation season ended in May2013. Te excavation took place in an area that was filled with rubble and no findings orremains o any importance were unearthed there. Te excavation was resumed towardsthe end o 2013 and is planned to continue or approximately three more seasons.23Teexcavations are streamlined with Elads plans to develop the City o David tourism siteto the east, and towards the ew open areas at the edge o the Al-Bustan neighborhood.From the governments point o view, Israeli presence in the valley is necessary to create

a continuity o antiquities sites rom the Shiloah Pool and the Al-Bustan neighborhood,towards the Spring House excavations and the northern Kidron Stream.Te Spring House

In January 2014, Elad deposited the plans or construction o a tourism compoundoverlooking the Spring House in the Village o Silwan (City o David). Te Spring Houseis an ancient structure above the main spring o the Village o Silwan Ein Um Darej,or the Gihon Spring. Te spring and the structure are located at a central junction that

joins the City o David site to the Kidron Valley Promenade and the Mount o Olives.Te Spring House is situated between the Kidron Promenade rom the north, the Al-Bustan Neighborhood rom the south, and the excavation and tourism areas o City oDavid rom the west. Above the Givati Parking Lot, a main tourism compound will beestablished, known as the Kedem Compound24. Te planned excavations and tourismcentersthe Kedem Compound, the City o David visitor center, and Spring Housetourist centerare contiguous along the northern boundary o the Village o Silwan.Tus, archaeological excavations and the tourism route separate the village o Silwan romthe Old City o Jerusalem and the emple Mount / Haram a-Shari.

Te Spring House is the main archaeological site in the Kidron Valley, which is parto the City o David archaeological park. Te planned tourist center (1200 sq. m.) willincorporate the current building and the archaeological remains. It will include a museumand audio-visual presentation that emphasize the sites linkage to the Jewish People.25

For hundreds o years, the spring in the Village o Silwan served as a water source orresidents, and later as a leisure site or neighborhood children and their parents. Tespring is identified as a sacred place in Judaism and Christianity, and thereore, it was

23 Y. Mizrachi,Remaking the City: Archaeological Projects o Political Import in Jerusalems Old City and in the Villageo Silwan, Emek Shaveh, 2013.24 Ibid.25 Ir David Foundation, Bet HaMayan (Spring House), 2011

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Kidron Promenade and the Ancient ombs

Like the Hinnom Valley, the Mount o Olives and the Kidron Valley served as burial

grounds or thousands o years. Te most ancient tombs in the valley are dated to the7th-8th cent. BCE. Later, elaborate burial structures were constructed Absaloms omb,the omb o Zechariah, and the omb o Benei Hezir, rom the 2nd cent. BCE 1st cent.CE. Te cemetery on the Mount o Olives is rom the Middle Ages, and became the maincemetery or Jewish burial.28

Development o the Kidron Promenade and the Ancient ombs, which began prior to2010, reached its peak in 2013 with the installation o inormational and directionalsigns in the Kidron Valley. Te promenade, which encircles the Old City on its eastern

side, creates continuity rom the City o David in the direction o the Mt. o Olives, andeffectively bars the residents o Ras al-Amud rom the valley. Te promenade and theburial structure emphasize the Jewish identity o the area.

See Emek Shavehs report:Graveyard Metropolis East o Jerusalems Old City(2011),with a ocus on the Kidron Valley and the Mount o Olives.

28 Ibid.

Spring House Compound

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Preparation o the Kidron Promenade

Sign on the Kidron Promenade

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Emek Tzurim National Park

Te Emek zurim National Park is located on lands o the A-Sawaneh neighborhoodand the Village o A-ur. Te park is bordered on the north by the Mt. o Olives and Te

Hebrew University. It was declared a national park in 1998 on an area o approximately41 acres and is the continuation o the Jerusalem Walls National Park.29Since 2004,an initiative has been underway in the park area, known as the emple Mount SifingProject, an experiential activity or students and visitors. Te project is unded by Eladin conjunction with the Nature and Parks Authority. Te earth being sifed is discardedrubble rom the emple Mount / Haram a-Shari, which was removed rom the empleMount and emptied into the Kidron during the extensive construction work carried outby the Muslim Waq in the 1990s. Te IAA examined the rubble and ound in it findsrom all the active periods on the emple Mount, including the modern period.30In

recent years, the connection between the sifing project and the efforts o Israeli andJewish groups to determine the ate o the emple Mount has intensified. Te internetsite o the sifing project presents updates and news regarding the struggle against thedestruction o antiquities on the emple Mount, Knesset discussions regarding empleMount antiquities, etc.31

Te initiative is presented as an essential salvage project and as a scientific endeavoro great importance, with a high public profile including colorul advertisements.In recent years an attempt was made to upgrade the sifing project to the status o a

scientific project, in which the IAA would engage the sifers as sifing contractors at theirexcavations, both those run by Elad (the City o David excavations) and those run asordinary salvage excavations. No doubt, the project has political overtones, its scientificsignificance was doubtul rom the outset, and using it to sif layers o rubble rom siteswhere proper excavations had already been held alls short o scientific standards. Tisuse even increases the chances o countereiting and diverts the ocus o the excavationrom the site as a whole to the individual findings.32Just as significant, although the sifingcould have taken place elsewhere, the act that the sifing takes place in Emek zurim

in East Jerusalememphasizes that the initiative is a key tool in the political struggle tojustiy Israeli involvement and presence on the emple Mount and in the historic basin.

29 Emek Shaveh, Emek zurim National Park, Where Are the Antiquities National Parks between the Old City oJerusalem and Area E1, 2011.30 Ibid., ibid.

31 Internet Site, emple Mount Sifing Project, http://www.cityodavid.org.il/en/tours/mount-olives/temple-mount-sifing-project32 Emek Shaveh, Archaeology on a Slippery Slope: Elads sifing project in Emek zurim National Park, September 5,2012.

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Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park

Te Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park does not contain significant antiquities sites. Aware

o the paucity o remains in the area, the Nature and Parks Authority determined threemain goals or the development o the park: Development o desert agriculture, bicycletrails, and walking paths headed in the direction o the Emek zurim National Park.

Te Nature and Parks Authority emphasizes the connection between the desert rontierand the ertile land. Te watershed line passes through the area o Mt. Scopus / the Villageo Isawiyya. Te planned tourism routes will give the visitor a walking experience romthe desert area (Mt. Scopus slopes) to a ertile area (zurim Valley). Development o thepark will enable grazing and agricultural use that emphasize the desert-like nature o the

slope. Te approach to the park will be rom the Mt. Scopus birding station and rom theVillage o Isawiyya.33Te Nature and Parks Authority declared that it would enable accessto all residents, not excluding the local population.

33 Jerusalem Space, Proposal or the Mt. Scopus Slopes National Park, [Heb.] Nature and Parks Authority, April 5,2011.

Sifing ent Run by Elad

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Summary and Conclusions

Te national parks around Jerusalems Old City, rom the Hinnom Valley to the KidronStream and the zurim Valley, are part o the historic basin (the holy basin) o

Jerusalem. Te parks surrounding the historic (holy) basin o the Old City will constitutea green belt that comprises the heart o the political conflict in Jerusalem. Te tourismdevelopment at each site is based on its archaeological potential and the possibility opublic promotion.

On the surace, declaration o the areas around the Old City as national parks created aninrastructure or Israeli activity that is not readily identified as political activity. But ineffect, the only activity necessary around a site such as the Old City is the preservation oits archaeological sites. Alongside the real need or the preservation o certain structures,

such as the case o Te House o Bones (Charnel House) in the Hinnom Valley, themotivation to develop the national parks and invest in them reaches beyond theirhistorical or scientific importance. A striking example is the investment o millions torestore the Sambuski Cemetery, whose restoration would have been doubtul were it notor its politically strategic location.

Indeed, the declaration o an area as a national park is ofen questionable, and as weexplained, has ofen lacked clear archaeological considerations. For example, there isno reasonable archaeological explanation or the specific investment in the Mt. ScopusSlopes National Park the site lacks archaeological significance. Emek zurim is a salientexample o a project sifing o emple Mount rubble that could have taken place in anopen area, and not necessarily in a national park, or, moreover, in East Jerusalem.

Creating territorial contiguity and historical continuity is an action with several benefitsor the authorities: 1. A prominent Israeli presence; 2. Recognition o Israels historicalright to these lands; 3. Limitation o Palestinian presence; 4. Archaeological excavationand preservation work that have marketing value. Te Israeli public is attentive to newarchaeological findings and arrives en masse to sites ollowing media exposure.

Te struggle or the national parks in East Jerusalem is political. For this reason, it can beassumed that the process o highlighting Jewish heritage in the Green Belt will continueor the long term. As long as the State o Israel eels that it is struggling to confirm itssovereignty over ancient Jerusalem, the national parks will serve as a major actor. As aresult, the Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority have much workahead. Te path to a political agreement in Jerusalem passes through the decisions andactivities o these organs. In this sense, archaeological excavations and national parkshave the same effect as a range o Israeli political activities conducted in East Jerusalem,and may even offer a broader effect at least on the Israeli public.

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Appendix A Main Actors Operating in the National Parks

Nature and Parks Authority Governmental authority subordinate to the Ministero Environmental Deense. Te Nature and Parks Authority is responsible or the

declaration, operation and administration o the national parks. In 1997, the Nature andParks Authority agreed to transer operational responsibility o the City o David to Elad.In addition, the authority gave its consent to carry out the emple Mount Sifing Projectin the area o the Emek zurim National Park.

Elad Acronym or El Ir David (o the City o David, ounded 1986), it operatesto strengthen the Jewish settlements in Silwan and to highlight and reinorce Jewishpresence in East Jerusalem. Te involvement o Elad in the national parks o EastJerusalem is materialized in the financing o archaeological excavations, the development

o tourist attractions, and the operation o a significant portion o these sites. Te hearto this organizations activity was and remains the City o David archaeological site, butalongside expansion o its activity in all areas o the national parks, the organizationoperates extensively in the open areas, combining tourist and archaeological attractions,34with support rom the government and its agencies. Elad is not a proessionalarchaeological organization.

Te Israel Antiquities Authority Te government authority is subordinate to theMinister o Culture and Sport. Te Antiquities Authority is the main organization thatcarries out excavations in Jerusalem. Te authority is responsible or preservation workthrough its Conservation Department. Te Antiquities Authority granted an excavationlicense to the emple Mount Sifing Project even though it is not scientific activityrequiring a license.

Te Jerusalem Development Authority A governmental/municipal company. Asubstantial part o its budget is rom the State o Israel, and a certain part rom theJerusalem Municipality. Te Jerusalem Development Authority is responsible orand unds many projects in the national parks, and is considered a main actor in thedevelopment plans or the historic basin. Te bulk o the government budget or thedevelopment o the Old City and the National Parks passes today through this authority.

34 Emek Shaveh, Elads involvement in archaeological sites and projects in East Jerusalem 2012, November 2012.

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Map o the Open Areas in East Jerusalem and Area E1

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For urther inormation please visit the Emek Shavehwebsite: www.alt-arch.org

For tours, workshops, or lectures,please contact us at:

[email protected] or +972-(0)545-667299

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from territorial contiguity to historical continuity - asserting israeli control through national...

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