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Jerusalem

Al-Bustan's 1,500 residents face demolitions for a biblical park

Much of the Silwan neighbourhood is slated for demolition under municipal plans, while settler lawsuits keep evicting families in Batn al-Hawa.

First seen
StatusConfirmed
Sources1 cited
Residential Silwan seen from across the valley, April 2023
Residential Silwan seen from across the valley, April 2023. Silwan, East Jerusalem, 2023. Photo: MMO:VAS Monoliths / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
1,500residents of Al-BustanThe Journal
17families evicted in Batn al-Hawa in 2026The Journal

In Al-Bustan, a neighbourhood of about 1,500 people in Silwan just below the Old City walls, a large share of buildings is slated for demolition to make way for a planned biblical-themed park, The Journal reported on 13 October. A local social centre has already been bulldozed. Community leader Kutyabah Odeh said demolitions have increased since October 2023.

In nearby Batn al-Hawa, the settler group Ateret Cohanim is pursuing claims to homes it says belonged to a Jewish Yemeni community before 1948. More than 30 families have been evicted, 17 of them this year; OCHA counted 15 households, 70 people, evicted in March.

A 1970 Israeli law lets Jews reclaim East Jerusalem property owned before 1948, with no equivalent right for Palestinians. Local representatives also fear more demolitions from the stalled Jerusalem cable car project, and residents said they were following Israel's election closely.

Where this comes from

  1. The Journal2026-10-13 · www.thejournal.ie

Barq summarises the reporting above in its own words. Figures are given as the named source gives them.