City of David Part-1 by Ilan Shchori

Uzi Landau - Touring 'Ir David'

Segway Tours of Ancient Jerusalem- City of David

City of David 3D Movie

City of David 3D Movie Begin your tour with a 3D movie that takes you through thousands of years of history in 15 minutes. This clip shows the animation element of the movie where experts "rebuit" what the City of David and the Temple might have looked like based on the most up-to-date finds and theories. 

The Battle over Silwan Fabricating Palestinian History

On August 26, 2010, a violent clash broke out between Jewish and Arab residents of Silwan, a predominantly Muslim village outside the southern end of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. The name derives from the biblical "Shiloah"[1] and its subsequently Graecized "Siloam."[2]
On the face of it, the sparring that erupted over a gate built illegally by Arab residents[3] may seem like a miniature version of the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over who controls the Holy Land. But reducing the struggle to a mere real estate dispute misses a critical point in understanding the persistence of the larger conflict. For the battle of Silwan is a microcosm of a larger fight, one in which one side, the Palestinian, seeks to erase the existence of the other—not merely through traditional armed conflict but also by rewriting history.

Erasing the Past

The tactic of denying a Jewish past to sites and holy places in the Land of Israel is of relatively recent vintage in the Arab-Israeli conflict but one that has increased dramatically in the past few years.

Notwithstanding Palestinian denials of the Jewish roots of Silwan, they are much in evidence to the casual observer as can be seen here where Arab homes are literally built atop ancient Jewish tombs carved into the limestone hillside.

Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where both the First and Second Temples stood for some eight hundred years in total, now holds the Dome of the Rock, al-Aqsa Mosque, and the underground Solomon's Stables mosque. Both in 1925 and again in 1950, Palestine's Supreme Muslim Council unequivocally recognized the Jewish connection to the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary; i.e., Temple Mount), describing it as a holy site for Jews in its self-published A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif:

Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which "David built there an altar unto the Lord."[4]

Explore The City of David in Jerusalem!

Herodian Road From Shiloah Pool to the Western Wall

In 2004, Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron began an excavation in the southern part of the City of David, at the site of the Second Temple period Shiloah Pool. The first stage of the excavation uncovered a series of steps that led outside the designated excavation site, as well as a platform that approaches the area from the North. In the next stage, they excavated two sections of the main road from the same time period that led northwards towards the Temple Mount. Additionally, parts of the water channel that passed beneath the road were discovered, with finds inside the channel testifying to the days of the revolt against the Romans and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem. 

A year later they began to excavate sections of the main road of the city from the Second Temple period that leads in the direction of the Temple Mount. (Sections of this road were excavated in the past by Bliss & Dickie, Kenyon and others). In addition, a water channel from the same time period was found beneath the road pavement. Inside the channel, two complete cooking pots were found along with many coins, which attest to the presence of residents living inside these channels as they sought refuge from the Romans who were destroying the city and the Second Temple during the Great Revolt.

City of David, then and now

Dan tweeted me with this wonderful photographic comparison of how the City of David looked in 1915 and how it looks today (actually 2005), from the BiblePlaces.com site:

View from Southwest, ca. 1915
Photo from the Jerusalem volume of the American Colony and Eric Matson Collection/Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-matpc-05424.

View from Southwest, August 23, 2005

The Matson Collection has tens of thousands of beautiful old photos of the Land of Israel, some of them with astonishing clarity. It would be a wonderful project for any Israelis who are reading this to match the photos, duplicating the vantage point as was done here. I'd happily publish them.

Arab media has the best videos Recently, Israel opened to the public an amazing tunnel that was originally a drainage ditch that goes from Kfar HaShiloach (Silwan) to the Temple Mount. Ha'aretz reported on this in January. The Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation recently started making a fuss over this, and released a great video of the tunnel

Permanent Exhibition-Tower of David

Ancient Tunnel Discovered Beneath Jerusalem

Learning About the Destruction at the Excavations of the City of David

Learning About the Destruction at the Excavations of the City of David

'Massive' ancient wall uncovered in Jerusalem

Nachum Segal Broadcasts Live From Ir David, Jerusalem

Nachum Segal continued his great week in Israel with a broadcast from Ir David in Jerusalem. The story of theCity of David began over 3,000 years ago, when King David left the city of Hebron for a small hilltop city known as Jerusalem, establishing it as the unified capital of the tribes of Israel. Years later, David's son, King Solomon, built the First Temple next to the City of David on top of Mount Moriah, the site of the binding of Isaac, and with it, this hilltop became one of the most important sites in the world. Today, the story of theCity of David continues. Deep underground, the City of David is revealing some of the most exciting archaeological finds of the ancient world. While above ground, the city is a vibrant center of activity with a visitor's center that welcomes visitors for an exciting tour to the site where much of the Bible was written. Nachum spoke with a host of fascinating guests including Chief of Staff Yigal Segal,Yoni Mishan of The Lion's Den, Eli Aloni of Ir David, and Doron Spielman. Click the link above to hear the entire program and click the names to hear the individual interviews. Click here to view a video that shows the head of Ir David being ambushed by arabs, an incident that was erroneously claimed to be a settler running over children leaving a mosque after prayers. 

סילוואן- כל מה שרציתם לדעת Silwan The Truth

" כל אחד היה פועל כמוני"

דוד בארי, יו"ר עמותת אלע"ד, נקלע למארב של מיידי אבנים פלשתינים בסילוואן, כשמיידי האבנים התקרבו לרכבו, הוא פגע בהם תוך כדי שהוא נמלט מהמקום.

את האירוע תיעדו צלמים.

הקליפ וההסבר מובא לפניכם

CAMERA: CBS "60 Minutes" Joins the Arab Propaganda Bandwagon on Jerusalem

One of the main obstacles in previous peace-making efforts has been Arab unwillingness to accept Israel as a Jewish state and Muslim denial of Judaism's historical and religious ties to Jerusalem. U.S. negotiator Dennis Ross complained that during the July 2000 negotiations at Camp David, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's only contribution was his refusal to acknowledge Jewish ties to Jerusalem, claiming the Jewish Temple never existed there. When talks resumed in Taba later that year, the Israelis agreed to full Palestinian sovereignty on the Temple Mount, but requested Palestinians acknowledge the sacredness of the place to Judaism. They refused. (See "The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount") Moreover, Palestinian leaders not only deny the existence of Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem, they falsely allege that Jews are trying to takeover or destroy Muslim holy sites there. In that way, they follow the lead of Jerusalem Mufti and Nazi sympathizer Haj al Amin Husseini who so successfully incited anti-Jewish rioting in the1920's by making his battle cry "Defend Muslim Holy Sites."

The efforts to delegitimize Israel's claim to Jerusalem have generally been limited to Arab and Muslim leaders, but recently, international media outlets have jumped on board to support them. The latest one to join the fray is Lesley Stahl of CBS News's "60 Minutes" in an October 17^th segment entitled "Controversy in Jerusalem: The City Of David."

HONEST REPORTING: HR Podcast 23: 60 Minutes - Tough Journalism or Biased Reporting? Does 60 Minutes report fairly on the City of David? Let us know what you think.

CBS News Reporter Aims at Jerusalem's City of David

(Israelnationalnews.com) CBS television network anchor Lesley Stahl is up in arms over Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood – known to Jews as Shiloach, and home to the City of David archaeological excavations. The reporter from the long-running Sunday evening “60 Minutes” program narrated a segment this week on the City of David, produced by Shachar Bar-On.