East Talpiot ( ''Talpiot Mizrach'') or Armon HaNetziv (ארמון הנְציב) is an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

in southern

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

, established by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1973 on land captured in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

and occupied since then. The international community considers East Talpiot to be an Israeli settlement that is illegal under international law. With a population of over 15,000 Israeli settlers, East Talpiot is one of Jerusalem's Ring Neighborhoods.

History

Before the new housing projects built after 1967, the area was known as ''Armon HaNetziv'' (lit. The Governor's Palace) after the headquarters of the British High Commissioner located on the hilltop. In 1928, Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi, wife of Israel's second president

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963; born Izaak Shimshelevich) was a historian, ethnologist, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving president of Israel. He was 1952 Israeli presidential elec ...

, established an agricultural training farm for young women, the first of its kind in the country, in the area of East Talpiot. Both the farm and the Arab Girls College, another historical landmark, are earmarked for conservation. The Lili and Elejandro Shaltiel Community Center was inaugurated in 1980. In the 1967

Israel captured and occupied East Jerusalem, East Talpiot was constructed as part of the 1968 Jerusalem Master Plan, which called for the creation of Jewish settlements around Jerusalem to cement Israeli control over the region. East Talpiot is situated in southern East Jerusalem, between the Palestinian villages of Sur Baher and Sawaher. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from nearby

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

neighborhoods/villages in order to construct East Talpiot: *1,343

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s from Sur Baher, *544 dunams from Jabel Mukaber, Beit Canada, an absorption center for new immigrants, is located in East Talpiot. Nearly all the streets of East Talpiot take their names from those of the Olei Hagardom, members of

Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...

and Lehi hanged by the British.

Demography

In 2006, some 15,000 people were living in East Talpiot. Mainly populated by young couples when it was first established, the neighborhood is now aging. For the most part, East Talpiot is a secular neighborhood, with only 15 synagogues.

Archeological findings

An excavation has found remains of a significant royal estate from the second half of the 7th century BC that archaeologists consider as indicative of a remarkable administrative development by the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

during that century. An ancient aqueduct that brought water to the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

from springs located outside of Jerusalem was also discovered in East Talpiot. This waterworks, a highly sophisticated engineering feat, continued to function for more than two thousand years. There have been claims that an ancient tomb discovered in East Talpiot when a housing project was being built in 1980 could be the tomb of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and his family.

Arab-Israeli conflict

On 8 January 2017, 4 Israeli soldiers were killed in the

2017 Jerusalem truck attack A vehicle-ramming attack occurred in Jerusalem on 8 January 2017. A truck driven by an Arab citizen of Israel plowed into a group of uniformed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers disembarking from a bus on the Armon Hanatziv Esplanade in East ...

that took place on the Armon Hanatziv Esplanade.

Status under international law

The international community considers Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem to be illegal under international law, violating the

Fourth Geneva Convention The Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (), more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August 1 ...

's prohibition on the transfer of civilians into occupied territory. Israel however disputes that East Jerusalem is occupied territory and instead considers it to be annexed to its territory as part of the Jerusalem municipality. That annexation is unrecognized internationally and East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory by the international community. Israel does not consider East Talpiot or other Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem to be settlements and instead considers them neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

References