Jerusalem District Court cancels funding for settler center in Silwan

The Jerusalem District Court ruled to cancel government funding allocated for establishing a Jewish settler visitors' center in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, following a petition filed by Ir Amim and local residents. The court deemed the agreement between the Bannesti Waqf and the "Midreshet Kadmot Yerushalayim" association, controlled by Ateret Cohanim, illegal due to a conflict of interest.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled to cancel government funding allocated for establishing a Jewish settler visitors' center in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Silwan, a decision that deals a blow to settlement plans in the area. The court accepted the petition filed by Ir Amim and local residents against the funding for the project belonging to the Ateret Cohanim settler association. The court ruled that the agreement between the Bannesti Waqf and the "Midreshet Kadmot Yerushalayim" association, controlled by Ateret Cohanim, cannot proceed due to a conflict of interest between the waqf trustees and the settler association. The Israeli Heritage Ministry had allocated up to three million shekels for the project, planned for a building from which five Palestinian families were evicted in the neighborhood. Waqf trustees linked to Ateret Cohanim continue legal proceedings aimed at evicting about 100 Palestinian families from their homes in the neighborhood, as part of efforts to strengthen the settler presence in the heart of Silwan. The ruling comes after years of legal efforts by Ir Amim and residents to oppose the project, which was frozen in 2020 after the Israeli Registrar of Endowments deemed it contrary to the waqf's objectives, then revived in 2022 with political intervention from ministers Gideon Sa'ar and Ze'ev Elkin. Judge David Zeller affirmed that Ateret Cohanim's influence on waqf decisions "is not merely a theoretical concern."