Silwan

Silwan or Siloam (Arabic: سلوان, romanized: Silwan; Greek: Σιλωάμ, romanized: Siloam; Hebrew: כְּפַר הַשִּׁילוֹחַ, romanized: Kfar ha-Shiloaḥ) is a predominantly Palestinian district in East Jerusalem, on the southeastern outskirts of the current Old City of Jerusalem.

It was the source of water for the Pool of Siloam within larger boundaries of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the latter it is the location of Jesus' healing the man blind from birth. Medieval Silwan began as a farming village, dating back to the 7th century according to local traditions, while the earliest mention of the village is from the year 985. Over many centuries, the village grew until it became an urban neighborhood of Jerusalem in the 20th century.

In 1947, the UN voted for Silwan to be part of an international city of Jerusalem called a Corpus separatum. After the 1948 war, the village came under Jordanian rule and was annexed by Jordan. Its rule lasted until the 1967 Six-Day War. It was annexed by Israel in 1980. Neither Israel's or Jordan's annexations were recognized by most countries. Most countries view Silwan as occupied by Israel. Silwan is administered as part of the Jerusalem Municipality. In 2016, Haaretz reported that the Israeli government and the settler organization Ateret Cohanim were working together to evict Palestinians living on property registered as part of the Hekdesh trust. The trust owned land lived on by a Yemenite Jewish community in an area of Silwan now mostly referred to as Batn al-Hawa. Israeli law allows land to be reclaimed if documentation of transfer cannot be found. In 2021, the Jordanian government turned over "All the documents [they held] on property and land in Jerusalem" to the Palestinian Authority to prove cases of ownership transfer.

Depending on how the neighborhood is defined, the Palestinian residents in Silwan number 20,000 to 50,000 while there are about 500 to 2,800 Jews.

Silwan is located southwest of the Old City Walls and constitutes part of the Jerusalem's "Holy Basin". The neighborhood has a narrow shape on a north-to-south axis. It is bounded by Wadi Hilweh and Abu Tor to the west and the Ras al-Amud neighborhood to east. Its southern tip touches the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood and its northern tip touches the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery.

Built on the southern ridge of the Mount of Olives, Silwan slopes steeply from approximately 700–600 metres (2,300–2,000 ft) above sea level, until it reaches the Kidron Valley, which bounds it in the west. The historical core lies is in the northwestern section, considered to be the site of ancient Jerusalem. Dozens of ancient burial tombs attributed to the time of ancient Israel and Judah as well as the Byzantine rule were found there. Arab villagers used the tombs as dwellings or enclosures for livestock. Many of the burial tombs are inhabited until today. The village was built next to numerous water sources of historical importance, such as the Pool of Siloam (Ain Silwan), Gihon Spring and Ein Rogel. The rest of the village was built in the 19th century.

In the ancient period, the area where the village stands was occupied by the necropolis of the Biblical kingdom. In the valley below, according to the Hebrew Bible, "the waters of Shiloah go softly" (from the Gihon Spring; Isaiah 8:6) and "the Pool of Siloam" (Nehemiah 3:15) to water what since King Solomon became known as the king's garden (Jeremiah 39:4; 52:7; 2 Kings 25:4; Nehemiah 3:15).

The necropolis, or ancient cemetery, is an archaeological site of major significance. It contains fifty rock-cut tombs of distinguished calibre, assumed to be the burial places of the highest-ranking officials of the Judean kingdom. Tomb inscriptions are in Hebrew. One of the ancient rock-cut tombs in Silwan is known as the Tomb of Pharaoh's daughter. Another notable tomb, called the Tomb of the Royal Steward is now incorporated into a modern-period house. The ancient inscription states that it was the final resting place of ""...yahu who is over the house." The first part of the Hebrew name is effaced, but refers to a Judean royal steward or chamberlain. The inscription is now in the collection of the British Museum.