Settlement organisation has a new target, and authorities are ready to help

After striking down roots in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, the right-wing association Elad has marked the Hinnom Valley for its next expansion project.

A new tourist attraction made its debut in Jerusalem this summer: Farm in the Valley. The pro-settler Elad Association, which operates the attraction, promises on its website to offer "a special agricultural experience, where you can feel with your hands the work of ancient farmers, in keeping with the season, just as in ancient times.”

Its success was immediate. Thousands of schoolchildren, soldiers and volunteers flooded the site, with activities reaching a peak as hundreds of families arrived for tours and workshops on grape-crushing, olive-harvesting and stone-chiselling. 

In the evenings there are various performances, including a collaboration with the Zappa Club which will feature popular singers Ivri Lider and Yuval Dayan, slated to take place before the Jewish holidays begin in late September.

Activities at the farm are just a small part of the overall effort Elad has undertaken while expanding its reach in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan southwest, to the neighbouring Hinnom Valley. 

Above the farm, a private events venue run by the right-wing group has been operating for a few years; not far away there is a campground and on the other side of the wadi, the association has taken over responsibility for an ancient Jewish cemetery and is conducting comprehensive landscaping work there. The whole wadi is undergoing a face-lift: Elad has built new terraces and fences and other structures, as well as paths throughout.

FULL STORY Settlement Organisation Eyes a New Target, and Israeli Authorities Go Out of Their Way to Help (Haaretz)

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