Central and South Jerusalem vigil at a cease fire of the war
Sheikh Saed checkpoint – we are in contact by phone with a representative from the neighbourhood. Since October 7, the checkpoint has only been open to medical workers and teachers with a blue identity card. No medical or family reunification permit worked.
Now students with a permit also pass, and all holders of blue certificates, workers with permits do not pass. We spoke to several female students who were waiting for a ride to the girls’ high school in Jebel Mukaber. They want to go on to higher studies, including medicine. A father leads his children to kindergarten in Jebel Mukaber. Tells about the plight of the workers who are not allowed to leave Israel with their work permits. The economic situation is getting worse, there is no work even in the territories.
Siluan – the streets are quiet, even though Kamal tells us that last night there were celebrations and chaos in the neighbourhood on the occasion of the return of a 14-year-old boy as part of the kidnapping deal. Lots of cameras on the roads near the City of David. The search for the Shiloah pool continues with deep excavation, but even if nothing authentic is found, a tourist site is being prepared here at the southern end of the City of David. There are no barriers at the exit to the road around the Temple Mount, but they added rows and rows of Israeli flags on the road around it. A jarring display of (only partial) ownership probably does someone good.
Driving through Ras El Amud and Abu Dis to the Olive checkpoint – many flags on the way, near the Ma’ale HaZeitim settlement there is a sign saying “Together we will win”. Shops are open, streets are quite empty. The Olive checkpoint, which allowed Palestinian pedestrians from the southeast to pass is locked and closed. 3 taxis are waiting for a miracle of passengers. Hanna approaches the olive tree that has finally withered – the symbol is true to reality.
We return to the Hebron Road to get on road 60 and visit the Dadua family on the outskirts of Efrat/El Khader. Last week Judge Stein of the Supreme Court ruled to demolish their magnificently renovated home. (See the sad story at the end of the report).
The works to double highway 60 and add 3 tunnels have been stopped because there is no entry of workers from the territories. There are traffic jams at the entrance to Jerusalem, and so also the settlers from Gush Etzion, Hebron and the southern West Bank are suffering from the war…
The members of the Dadua family (Nafuz and her husband and their seven children) were happy to welcome us even though we didn’t announce our arrival because we didn’t want to promise… We sat down with the whole family for a cup of tea (this time the husband was also revealed to our eyes for the first time). Hana visits the house for the first time, and gave the patient and her husband precise instructions on which documents they should bring to her so that she could process the permit for him for oncology treatment at the Augusta Victoria Hospital.
Undoubtedly, the last week was very traumatic, but it seems that the three months they were given until the danger of demolition begins still allows us all to hope that we can do something to change the evil of the decree – not on the legal level, of course.
Read the story of the family house and how we are connected to them. It has a title: “There is no justice and no mercy”. We wonder: how do you spread it to influence the decision-makers at a time when houses are being destroyed all over the West Bank, and neighbourhoods are being destroyed in Gaza?
Jabel Mukaber (Jerusalem)
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Jabal Mukaber is located on the eastern and northern slopes of Mount Atz (or "Jabal Mukaber" in its Arabic name). It was founded by the Bedouin tribe of Arab a-Sawahra. Today, the village is considered one of East Jerusalem neighborhoods. It numbers about 30,000 residents living on 1,010 dunams. The village has five main clans, numbering several hundred families. During the British Mandate, the tribe moved to live in a huge complex of permanent housing that was named as-Sawahra, with the part east of the Kidron Valley called as-Sawahra a-Sharqiya (Eastern Sawahra) and the western part – Sawahra al-Gharbiyya. The separation fence currently separates Jabal Mukaber from Sawahra a-Sharqiya.
The houses of Jabal Mukaber wrap around the ridge from the north and east, along one of the tributaries of the Kidron River. In the eastern part, the village houses border the Jewish East Talpiot neighborhood. most of the residents of the village are considered residents of Jerusalem, have blue identity cards and enjoy full civil rights in Israel, except for the right to vote for the Knesset and receive an Israeli passport.
The residents of Jabel Mukaber suffer from lack of Outline Plan for the village, overcrowding and a lack of residential and public spaces. Thus, there is a phenomenon of illegal construction in the neighborhood. Demolitions of houses without building permits have been carried out over the years, but since the 7th October War, their rate has increased.
In 2010, a wall was built separating it from its sub-neighborhood A-Sheikh Sa'ed. The wall left many residents with Palestinian IDs without Jerusalem residency and they lost their freedom of movement in Jerusalem.
In the northern part of the neighborhood, construction began in 2005 of a luxury Jewish neighborhood called Nof Zion. The neighborhood was planned to have about 400 housing units, a commercial center and a hotel. However, in April 2025, it was announced that it would be expanded. The apartments were marketed mainly to the religious community in the United States. Alongside the Nof Zion neighborhood, a plan is being promoted to establish the Nof Zahav neighborhood on state land in the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood. This plan also includes residential areas and hotels for tourists, and a place has been allocated for a synagogue, but not for the construction of a mosque.
During and after the Second Intifada, several residents of the neighborhood were involved in terrorist attacks: On March 6, 2008, the attack on Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, in which eight of the yeshiva's students were murdered; On November 18, 2014, an attack on the "Kehilat Bnei Torah" synagogue during morning prayers in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem; A resident of Jabal Mukaber carried out a car bombing on the Armon Hanatziv promenade. The terrorist drove his truck into a group of cadets. Updated April 2025
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Jerusalem
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The places in East Jerusalem which are visited routinely by MachsomWatch women are Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. During the month of Ramadan, also the Old City and its environs are monitored.
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Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal)
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A large checkpoint/crossing to the area of a-Tur, Abu Dis and the Old City; only for pedestrians. Located on Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.
One of the major crossings in Jerusalem’s central sector. It is located on the separation fence between the northern portion of the al-Ezariya neighborhood and the neighborhood of a-Tur and the rest of East Jerusalem. It is manned by Border Police soldiers and private security companies and operates 24 hours a day. Palestinians are forbidden to go through, other than permanent residents of East Jerusalem (holders of blue ID cards) and holders of work and commercial permits who are allowed through only on foot.
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Silwan
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Silwan is south of the Old City of Jerusalem and has become one of the main confrontation areas with settlers.
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