Ir David Foundation
Encyclopedia
Ir David Foundation or the Elad Association ( - a Hebrew acronym for: To the City of David) is an Jerusalem-based, Israel
i association which aims to strengthen the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and renew the Jewish community in the City of David, which is part of the village of Silwan
. The foundation works to achieve its goals by tourism, education, archaeological excavations and obtaining homes in the area to establish a Jewish presence. Its excavation practices have been criticized by one of the most productive archeological researchers in Jerusalem as violating normal scientific procedures.
and Old City, with the Tyropoeon Valley
on its west, the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley
on the east. Modern Jewish settlement on the ridge began in the City of David began in 1873-1874, when the Meyuchas
family, a Jewish rabbinical and merchant family that had lived in Jerusalem since their expulsion from Spain, moved a short distance outside the city walls to a house in the area. With the outbreak of 1936 riots Jews were advised by the British authorities to leave the area since they could no guarantee their safety.
The foundation was founded in 1986 by David Be’eri a former deputy commander of Duvdevan Unit
, with the intention to purchase the former Meyuchas family home and other properties in the city. In 1986 they were granted the authority to work on behalf of the Jewish National Fund
to reclaim land in the area. For a long time, Elad refused to provide the names of its funders and when they did they request successfully that the names be kept under privilege.
The foundation endeavours to buy up property from Muslims in the area, but the acquisition of houses is complex, since under Waqf
law, Muslims are not permitted to sell their land to Jews, since the lands they dwell on belong to God. Elad employs Muslim middle mean as brokers to bypass the Waqf rules and purchase the properties.
In 1997 the organisation was sued by the Israeli state for damaging archaeological remains and for building on a historic site without a permit, and the Israel Antiquities Authority
stronglòy recommended that the upkeep and control of the archaeological sites not be handed over to the organisation. In 1998 a proposed contract to do this was annulled. However, in 2002 the contract was re-confirmed, this time without opposition from the IAA, and from that time the organisation has had responsibility for the preservation and maintenance of the City of David National Park.
While the archaeological sites are clearly from at least the Second Temple Period, there is no clear evidence of the presence of King David or Solomon at the site. However, much of the narrative in Samuel and Kings I is consistent with the archaeologic discoveries, including the water shaft through which David's troops are described scaling when they entered the city and captured it from the Jebusites. The oldest archaeologic finds to date are clay document seals or bullae, containing the names of Gedaliah ben Pashur and Yehuchal ben Shelemayahu. Both names appear in the Book of Jeremiah (38:1). The two men were ministers in the court of King Zedekiah, the last king to rule in Jerusalem before the destruction of the First Temple.
and the Mount of Olives
.
, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and Yad Ben Zvi, the foundation gives day tours of Jerusalem to soldiers, with an emphasis on sites connected to Jewish heritage and Zionism. The association operates weekends and seminars on leadership and Zionism among the officers, held at various tourist sites in Ancient Jerusalem. The association also works in conjunction with Bnei Akiva
, a religious Zionist
youth movement, giving visitors educational tours.
In 2001, the foundation established the Megalim Institute dedicated to expanding knowledge of Jerusalem in the fields of history
, archaeology and the Bible. The Institute teaches academics both in Israel and internationally through courses, seminars and tours. Every year the Institute hosts the 'City of David Archaeological Conference', where excavators and researchers present the latest innovations in the study of Jerusalem. Megalim Institute also publishes various books and publications in areas relevant to historical research.
200 meter from of another "Pool of Siloam" which was a fifth century reconstruction and the road that connected the Spring to the Temple. The pool was used as Mikveh for ritual purification performed before visiting the Temple
.
In 1999 unauthorized construction on the Temple Mount by the Waqf resulted in trucks fulls of dirt filled with archaeological artifacts being dumped in Emek Tzurim. Bar Ilan University with funding by the Ir David Foundation and the National Parks Authority, organized the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation
where volunteers and professionals recover these artifacts. Thousands of artifacts have been recovered including 3,500 ancient coins.
In December 2008 excavations funded by the foundation found a large hoard of over 250 gold coins, dated to around the seventh century near the end of the Byzantine
period. A clay seal
bearing the name of Gedaliah son of Pashhur
was also found. His name is explicitly mentioned in the bible (Book of Jeremiah (38:1)). The Foundation also funded excavation of a house the archaeologists suspect belonged to Helena of Adiabene
, a fourth century mansion, and an ancient water tunnel.
In 2011, a leading Israeli specialist on the archeology of Jerusalem, Dr. Eilat Mazar, who in the past collaborated with the Elad foundation, wrote a letter protesting the foundation's lack commitment to "scientitif archeological work". In particular she expressed concerns over their intention to demolish a wall in a subterranean trench called "Jeremiah's Pit", and which she regards as part of a tourism gimmick. The Antiquities Authority replied that she was only tryig too appropriate the site for herself. Elad replied that her contract forbids her from complaining about future excavations.
and rents them to Jewish families. According to the foundation some houses in Silwan
were originally owned by Jews before the establishment of the state, representing the Jewish settlement of Kfar Shiloah, established for immigrants from Yemen in the late 19th century. With the outbreak of 1936 riots Jewish settlement in the city of David was eradicated, Jewish property looted, and the houses seized by Arabs, some of whom live in these homes today. As of 2009, 75 Jewish families live in properties owned by the Association.
The Ir David foundation acquires property in the city of David and surroundings in one of four ways:
Critics accuse the foundation of methodically squeezing Arabs out to "Judaicize" the city. The foundation replied that all of its actions are legal under Israeli law, though this is highly disputed see Silwan
October 9, 2010 the chairman of the Elad Association, David Be'eri was filmed as ran over two Arab children who were throwing stones at his car. One of the youths suffered a broken leg and had to be hospitalized. Be'eri was taken in for questioning by police and later released on bail. He is still under investigation.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i association which aims to strengthen the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and renew the Jewish community in the City of David, which is part of the village of Silwan
Silwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
. The foundation works to achieve its goals by tourism, education, archaeological excavations and obtaining homes in the area to establish a Jewish presence. Its excavation practices have been criticized by one of the most productive archeological researchers in Jerusalem as violating normal scientific procedures.
Background
"Ir David" - or the City of David is the name given to a site beyond the southern edge of Jerusalem's Temple MountTemple Mount
The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
and Old City, with the Tyropoeon Valley
Tyropoeon Valley
Tyropoeon Valley is the name given by Josephus the historian to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and emptied into the valley of Hinnom...
on its west, the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley
Kidron Valley
The Kidron Valley is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem which features significantly in the Bible...
on the east. Modern Jewish settlement on the ridge began in the City of David began in 1873-1874, when the Meyuchas
Meyuchas
The Meyuchas are a Jerusalem Sephardi family that has produced notable rabbis and merchants for hundreds of years. They trace their ancestry to Spain before the Alhambra Decree....
family, a Jewish rabbinical and merchant family that had lived in Jerusalem since their expulsion from Spain, moved a short distance outside the city walls to a house in the area. With the outbreak of 1936 riots Jews were advised by the British authorities to leave the area since they could no guarantee their safety.
The foundation was founded in 1986 by David Be’eri a former deputy commander of Duvdevan Unit
Duvdevan Unit
Duvdevan is an elite special forces unit within the Israel Defense Forces, directly subordinate to the West Bank Division and the Paratroopers Brigade. Duvdevan are particularly noted for conducting undercover operations against militants in urban areas...
, with the intention to purchase the former Meyuchas family home and other properties in the city. In 1986 they were granted the authority to work on behalf of the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
to reclaim land in the area. For a long time, Elad refused to provide the names of its funders and when they did they request successfully that the names be kept under privilege.
The foundation endeavours to buy up property from Muslims in the area, but the acquisition of houses is complex, since under Waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
law, Muslims are not permitted to sell their land to Jews, since the lands they dwell on belong to God. Elad employs Muslim middle mean as brokers to bypass the Waqf rules and purchase the properties.
In 1997 the organisation was sued by the Israeli state for damaging archaeological remains and for building on a historic site without a permit, and the Israel Antiquities Authority
Israel Antiquities Authority
The Israel Antiquities Authority is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservation, and promotes research...
stronglòy recommended that the upkeep and control of the archaeological sites not be handed over to the organisation. In 1998 a proposed contract to do this was annulled. However, in 2002 the contract was re-confirmed, this time without opposition from the IAA, and from that time the organisation has had responsibility for the preservation and maintenance of the City of David National Park.
While the archaeological sites are clearly from at least the Second Temple Period, there is no clear evidence of the presence of King David or Solomon at the site. However, much of the narrative in Samuel and Kings I is consistent with the archaeologic discoveries, including the water shaft through which David's troops are described scaling when they entered the city and captured it from the Jebusites. The oldest archaeologic finds to date are clay document seals or bullae, containing the names of Gedaliah ben Pashur and Yehuchal ben Shelemayahu. Both names appear in the Book of Jeremiah (38:1). The two men were ministers in the court of King Zedekiah, the last king to rule in Jerusalem before the destruction of the First Temple.
Tourism
To expand tourist activity, the foundation created a massive marketing campaign which led to a sharp increase in the number of visitors in recent years. In 2001 the foundation had only 25,000 visitors, but 250,000 in 2006 and 350,000 in 2007. In a program called "Ancient Jerusalem", they bring visitors to the three sites of Biblical Jerusalem, the City of David, Armon HaNetzivEast Talpiot
East Talpiot is a neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem, established in 1973 in the upswing of building that followed the Six-Day War. The neighborhood is located in East Jerusalem, unilaterally annexed to Israel but internationally recognized as being a part of the West Bank...
and the Mount of Olives
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...
.
Education
Ir David invests considerable resources in education and strengthening ties to Jerusalem, and increasing the knowledge of and research of Ancient Jerusalem. In association with the IDFIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and Yad Ben Zvi, the foundation gives day tours of Jerusalem to soldiers, with an emphasis on sites connected to Jewish heritage and Zionism. The association operates weekends and seminars on leadership and Zionism among the officers, held at various tourist sites in Ancient Jerusalem. The association also works in conjunction with Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 37 countries. It was established in Mandate Palestine in 1929.-History:...
, a religious Zionist
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
youth movement, giving visitors educational tours.
In 2001, the foundation established the Megalim Institute dedicated to expanding knowledge of Jerusalem in the fields of history
History of Jerusalem
During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world....
, archaeology and the Bible. The Institute teaches academics both in Israel and internationally through courses, seminars and tours. Every year the Institute hosts the 'City of David Archaeological Conference', where excavators and researchers present the latest innovations in the study of Jerusalem. Megalim Institute also publishes various books and publications in areas relevant to historical research.
Archaeological Excavations
Ir David Foundation funds most of the archaeological excavations conducted in recent years in the City of David and the surrounding areas. All excavations are conducted by the Antiquities Authority, or with their approval. Among the many excavation sites the association found in 2005 the "true" Pool of SiloamPool of Siloam
Pool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by two aqueducts.-History:The Pool of Siloam is mentioned...
200 meter from of another "Pool of Siloam" which was a fifth century reconstruction and the road that connected the Spring to the Temple. The pool was used as Mikveh for ritual purification performed before visiting the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
.
In 1999 unauthorized construction on the Temple Mount by the Waqf resulted in trucks fulls of dirt filled with archaeological artifacts being dumped in Emek Tzurim. Bar Ilan University with funding by the Ir David Foundation and the National Parks Authority, organized the Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation
Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation
The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation is an archaeological project begun in 2005 dedicated to recovering archaeological artifacts from 300 truckloads of topsoil removed from the Temple Mount by the waqf during the construction of the underground el-Marwani Mosque from 1996-1999...
where volunteers and professionals recover these artifacts. Thousands of artifacts have been recovered including 3,500 ancient coins.
In December 2008 excavations funded by the foundation found a large hoard of over 250 gold coins, dated to around the seventh century near the end of the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
period. A clay seal
Bulla (seal)
Bulla , is a type of seal impression. It comes in two forms: metal and clay.- Clay bullae :The original bulla was a lump of clay molded around a cord and stamped with a seal...
bearing the name of Gedaliah son of Pashhur
Gedaliah son of Pashhur
Gedaliah son of Pashhur is a man described in the Book of Jeremiah of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism's Tanakh, and Christianity's Old Testament. He is described as one of the political opponents of Jeremiah, one of those who appealed to King Zedekiah to have Jeremiah executed because of his prophecies...
was also found. His name is explicitly mentioned in the bible (Book of Jeremiah (38:1)). The Foundation also funded excavation of a house the archaeologists suspect belonged to Helena of Adiabene
Helena of Adiabene
Helena of Adiabene was queen of Adiabene and wife of Monobaz I. With her husband she was the mother of Izates II and Monobaz II. She died about 56 CE. Her name and the fact that she was her husband's sister indicate a Hellenistic origin...
, a fourth century mansion, and an ancient water tunnel.
In 2011, a leading Israeli specialist on the archeology of Jerusalem, Dr. Eilat Mazar, who in the past collaborated with the Elad foundation, wrote a letter protesting the foundation's lack commitment to "scientitif archeological work". In particular she expressed concerns over their intention to demolish a wall in a subterranean trench called "Jeremiah's Pit", and which she regards as part of a tourism gimmick. The Antiquities Authority replied that she was only tryig too appropriate the site for herself. Elad replied that her contract forbids her from complaining about future excavations.
Home Purchases
Ir David purchases houses in SilwanSilwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
and rents them to Jewish families. According to the foundation some houses in Silwan
Silwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
were originally owned by Jews before the establishment of the state, representing the Jewish settlement of Kfar Shiloah, established for immigrants from Yemen in the late 19th century. With the outbreak of 1936 riots Jewish settlement in the city of David was eradicated, Jewish property looted, and the houses seized by Arabs, some of whom live in these homes today. As of 2009, 75 Jewish families live in properties owned by the Association.
The Ir David foundation acquires property in the city of David and surroundings in one of four ways:
- Locating assets belonging to Jews in the city of David and seeking legal action to return them to the original owner.
- Buying properties declared absentee property. According to Haaretz Elad took control over properties making a very dubious use of the Israeli 'Absentees Property Law'
- Persuading Arab resident to voluntarily sell their homes to Jews.
- Construction of new neighbourhoods in the area also known as Israeli settlementIsraeli settlementAn Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
s.
Critics accuse the foundation of methodically squeezing Arabs out to "Judaicize" the city. The foundation replied that all of its actions are legal under Israeli law, though this is highly disputed see Silwan
Silwan
Silwan or Wadi Hilweh is a predominantly Palestinian village adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. In recent years a small Jewish minority of 40 families has settled in the area. The village is located in East Jerusalem, an area occupied by Jordan from 1948 until the 1967 Six-day War and by Israel...
October 9, 2010 the chairman of the Elad Association, David Be'eri was filmed as ran over two Arab children who were throwing stones at his car. One of the youths suffered a broken leg and had to be hospitalized. Be'eri was taken in for questioning by police and later released on bail. He is still under investigation.
External links
- Ir David Official Site
- The Story Behind the Tourist Site Critique of Elad by the Silwan Information Center local protest group
- Archaeologist petition for control of the investigations to be taken away from Elad
- Digging for Trouble, Journeyman PicturesJourneyman PicturesJourneyman Pictures is an English independent distributor of topical news features, documentaries and footage. The company publishes "The Journeyman Weekly" and has an archive of over 3,000 films...
, via YouTube