Thursday, May 21st
11:00am – 12:00pm EST

Settler groups, backed by consecutive right-wing governments, have invested millions of shekels in excavating, preserving and curating Jerusalem‘s ancient sites to render its historic core a non-negotiable part of the Israeli state. Those efforts have been fruitful; Trump’s “peace plan” leaves full control of Jerusalem’s historic core in Israel’s hands. If implemented, such an outcome would represent the successful culmination of two decades (and more) of settlement activity to rebrand key Jerusalem historic sites as exclusively, or virtually exclusively, Jewish.

In this webinar, FMEP is puts the spotlight on the central role played by archeology in East Jerusalem settlement efforts. We are proud to host Emek Shaveh’s Executive Director Yonathan Mizrachi, who will offer a guided (virtual) tour of the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, where  Palestinian residents have been subject to serial evictions and have experience damage to their properties in the shadow of ongoing settler-led archeological excavations and development works. The tour will focus on the area that Israel has defined as “the City of David archaeological park,” located inside Silwan, with Mizrachi explaining how the historical narrative of the area is being shaped for political purposes.

Emek Shaveh is an Israeli NGO working to protect ancient sites as public assets that belong to members of all faiths and peoples. Emek Shaveh challenges the use of history and archaeology to dispossess disenfranchised communities, particularly in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and views heritage sites as resources for building bridges and strengthening bonds between peoples and cultures.