Archaeology used politically to push out Jerusalem Palestinians
Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 26 September 2008
A Palestinian teenager sits outside a protest tent in Silwan, next to a site where Israeli settlers are excavating a tunnel. (Jonathan Cook)
From just outside Jerusalem's Old City walls, the simple stone and cinder-block homes of Silwan cascade southwards into a valley known as the Holy Basin.
The Palestinian residents are used to living in the shadow of history and religion, given dramatic physical form as the great silver dome of the al-Aqsa mosque and the looming presence of the Mount of Olives. But of late, history has become a curse for most of Silwan's residents.
"We have cameras everywhere watching us night and day," said Jawad Siyam, 39. "Armed Israeli guards wander through our alleys. Our open areas, the places where I played as a child, have become no-go zones."
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