In Israel's simple proportional representation system, far right religious groups who favour settling Jews outside Israel's borders can muster a lot of influence. This may be part of the reason the Israeli National Parks Authority gave the settler group El'Ad (meaning 'eternal God') so much control over archeological excavations in the village of Silwan, the site of Jerusalem's old City of David. The residents are reporting that the work - to clear tunnels dug by King Herod - is wrecking their foundations. El'Ad doesn't seem to care - its business is to discover evidence of an Israelite past in the area, which its members believe will give them claim to the land. They run a biased visitors centre at the dig which ghosts out the Arab history of the area. In 2004 El'Ad's director Doron Spielman set out his stall:

"The goal of our organisation is to increase the presence of Jews in the neighbourhood as much as possible ... We've been dreaming of coming back to biblical Jerusalem for 3,000 years. This is the fulfilment of our dreams. We cannot trust that if this is an Arab neighbourhood, Jews will be safe to walk around here."

This is clearly insane. The archeology itself is of great importance and interest, but to ruin neighbourhoods, cast aspersion on the claims of the residents of Silwan and paint them as terrorists is disgusting.

There's more information at the From Shiloah to Silwan site, along with a petition to retrieve the dig from the control of El'Ad.

HT Yish.