Gilo is located on a hilltop in southwestern East Jerusalem separated from
Beit Jala by a deep gorge. The
Tunnels Highway to
Gush Etzion runs underneath it on the east, and the settlement of
Har Gilo is visible on the adjacent peak.
Beit Safafa and
Sharafat are located north of Gilo, while
Bethlehem is to the South.[8]
A site dating to the period of
Israelite settlement during Iron Age I (1200 – 1000 BCE) was identified and excavated at the modern site of Gilo. The site revealed a small planned settlement with dwellings along the perimeter of the site, together with pottery dating to the twelfth century BC.[9] The southern part of the Iron Age site at Gilo is believed to be one of the earliest Israelite sites from this period.[9] The site was surrounded by a defensive wall and divided into large yards, possibly sheep pens, with houses at the edges. Buildings at the site are amongst the earliest examples of the pillared
four room house characteristic of
Iron Age Israelite architecture, featuring a courtyard divided by stone pillars, a rectangular back room and rooms along the courtyard. The foundations of a structure built of large stones were also uncovered, possibly a fortified defense tower.[9]
The biblical town of Giloh is mentioned in the
Book of Joshua (Joshua 15:51) and the
Book of Samuel (II Sam 15:12).[10] Some scholars believe that biblical Giloh was located in the central
Hebron Hills, whereas the name of the modern settlement was chosen because of its proximity to Beit Jala, possibly a corruption of Giloh.[11]
During the construction of the modern suburb of Gilo, archaeologists discovered a fortress and agricultural implements from the period of the
First Temple period above the shopping center on Rehov Haganenet. Between Givat Canada and Gilo Park, they unearthed the remains of a farm and graves from the
Second Temple period. Roman and Byzantine remains have also been found at various sites.[12]
Modern era
According to
ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from several
Palestinian villages/towns in order to construct Gilo:
During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, the
Egyptian army positioned its artillery at Gilo, heavily shelling West Jerusalem. An attempt to advance on Jerusalem from Gilo was beaten back in a fierce battle.
KibbutzRamat Rachel, located just north-east of Gilo,
changed hands three times, ultimately remaining part of Israel, but Gilo remained on the side of the
Green Line held by the Kingdom of Jordan until 1967.[17][better source needed]
In 1970, the Israeli government expropriated 12,300 dunams of land to build
Ring Neighborhoods around Jerusalem on land conquered in the
Six-Day War.
Gilo was established in 1973. According to some sources, the land belonged to the Palestinian villages of
Sharafat,
Beit Jala and
Beit Safafa.[18][19] With its expansion over the years, Gilo has formed a wedge between Jerusalem and Beit Jala-
Bethlehem.[18]
Demography
In 2017, Gilo had a population of 30,900.[20] From its inception, Gilo has provided housing to
new Jewish immigrants from around the world. Many of those who spent their first months in the country at the immigrant hostel in Gilo, including those from Iran, Syria, France and South America, chose to remain in the neighborhood. Since the large influx of
Soviet Jews in the 1990s, Gilo has absorbed 15% of all immigrants of that wave settling in Jerusalem.[21] The immigrant hostel is now the site of an
urban kibbutz, Beit Yisrael.[11] Gilo is a mixed community of religious and secular Jews, although more
Haredi families are moving in.[11]
Schools and institutions
Beit Or (Home of Light), a hostel for
autistic young adults, opened in Gilo in March 2008.[22] The Ilan home for handicapped adults is located in Gilo.[23] Gilo has 35 synagogues.[24] In 2009, the Gilo community center, one of the largest in the country, introduced a new hybrid
water heating system that saves energy and greatly reduces pollution.[25] Park Gilo has a large adventure playground for children.[26]
Settlement debate
Because Gilo is located beyond the 1949
Green Line, on land occupied since the
Six-Day War, the United Nations,[27] the European Union[28] and Japan[29] refer to it as an illegal settlement.
Israel disputes this, and considers it a neighborhood of Jerusalem.[3][28] In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Gilo community council director Yaffa Shitrit, invited the world "to come and see the neighborhood of Gilo and to understand the geography. We're not a settlement, we're part of the city of Jerusalem, we're a neighborhood like
Katamon."[30]Palestinians regard it as occupied territory and make no distinction between Gilo and the West Bank settlements.[31]
Plans to expand Gilo have drawn criticism from the United States and United Kingdom. Israel maintains that it has the right to build freely in Gilo because the neighborhood is within (expanded) Jerusalem municipal borders and not a
West Bank settlement.[32] In 2009, the Jerusalem Planning Committee approved construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo, sparking a fresh round of global criticism.[33]
Arab-Israeli conflict
From 2000, Beit Jala, a predominantly
Palestinian Christian town, was used as a base by
Fatah's
Tanzim gunmen to launch sniper and mortar attacks[34] against Gilo.[35] The Israeli government built a concrete barrier and installed bulletproof windows in the homes and schools on the periphery of Gilo, facing Beit Jala.[36] The attacks on Gilo subsided after
Operation Defensive Shield, with the rate slowing to three incidents of gunfire that year.[37] On August 15, 2010, following years of relative quiet, the
IDF started dismantling the concrete barrier, nearly a decade after its construction.[38]
^
abcMazar, Amihai, (1994) “The Iron Age I” in Ben-Tor, Amnon (Ed.), “The Archaeology of Ancient Israel”, pp. 286–295, Yale University Press,
ISBN0-300-05919-1
^
abShaul Ephraim Cohen (1993). The politics of planting: Israeli-Palestinian competition for control of land in the Jerusalem periphery (Illustrated ed.). University of Chicago Press.
ISBN0-226-11276-4.
^Ashkenasi, Abraham (1999). Abraham Ashkenasi (ed.). The future of Jerusalem. P. Lang. p. 293.
ISBN0-8204-3505-8."Gilo It was established in 1973 on Beit Safafa, Sharafat and Beit Jala land..."