A Deeper Divide in a Divided City
East Jerusalem has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. A surge in development and tourism has lately turned up the heat.
When 29-year-old Mohammad Shweki sleeps, he often dreams that bulldozers are coming to destroy his home.
Shweki is a Palestinian baker who lives in East Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood. A predominantly Muslim suburb around half a mile south of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall and the walled Old City, Silwan has roughly 50,000 residents and feels more like a village than a city with its olive-tree lined dirt and gravel roads and hills stacked with small brick houses. Its necropolis is believed to be one of Israel's most ancient cemeteries, and the City of David, believed to be the urban center of ancient Jerusalem, is located in Silwan's Wadi Hilweh neighborhood.
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