Sur Baher

Sur Baher occupies the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, bordered by Ramat Rachel to the west, Har Homa to the south, Jabel Mukaber to the east, and East Talpiot to the north.[1] Together with Umm Tuba and Umm Lison, its wider area covers approximately 9,000 dunams.[1]

The security barrier was initially planned to follow the municipal boundary and separate Wadi Hummus from Sur Baher. Following residents' lobbying and legal action, the route was altered so that Wadi Hummus remained on the Israeli side of the barrier, although it remained outside Jerusalem's municipal territory.[3][1]

The earliest cited documentary record of Sur Baher is an Ottoman census from 1596, which listed 29 household heads engaged in agriculture and sheep raising.[1]

In the British Mandate period, the 1922 census recorded 993 residents for Sur Baher and Umm Tuba combined, rising to 2,450 for both communities by 1945.[1] Sur Baher was not part of Jerusalem during the Jordanian period. Israel incorporated it into the city's municipal area in 1967 after the Six-Day War.[1] A September 1967 census recorded approximately 2,400 residents for Sur Baher and Umm Tuba together.[2]

In August 1970, 2,240 dunams west and north of the village were expropriated for the construction of East Talpiot.[1] On 15 November 1985, Israeli bulldozers reportedly began work on village land following a decision to confiscate a 1,000-dunam plot.[5] On 21 August 1986, the body of 29-year-old Issa Shuasna of Kattana was found near Sur Baher. Security sources said he was killed while handling a bomb, while relatives alleged that he had a bullet wound and signs of a beating. The record also preserves conflicting accounts of the subsequent encounter between villagers and security personnel.[5]

Sur Baher's population grew substantially over the latter half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Figures for 2012 recorded 15,040 residents in Sur Baher and 3,600 in Umm Tuba.[1] A 2007 report placed their combined population at approximately 13,000.[6] By 2021, the combined population had reached approximately 25,500, about 10.6 times the September 1967 count.[2]

The 2022 statistical table lists Sur Baher statistical area 2811 with 20,370 residents at the start of the year and 20,880 at year's end. It records a natural increase of 520, a within-Jerusalem migration balance of minus 30, and total growth of 510; the table notes that the total also incorporates international migration, family reunifications, and net changes in religion.[7]

Sur Baher has seen notably high rates of women pursuing higher education. A 2010 survey found that women constituted 70% of students from the village, while estimates indicated that women continued to higher education at approximately twice the rate of men.[2] That educational attainment did not always translate into workforce participation, as some couples chose for women to concentrate on household and child-rearing responsibilities.[2]

Sur Baher combines strong religious and traditional influences with growing participation in higher education and Jerusalem's wider economy.[2] Its principal contemporary economic ties are with western Jerusalem, where many residents work.[2] In 2015, approximately 280 residents were reported to work at neighboring Kibbutz Ramat Rachel.[8]

The neighborhood has a relatively active community administration. An integrated service center opened in January 2020 with a police station, a fire-service point, rescue services, and a Population Authority branch, a combination described as unique among East Jerusalem neighborhoods.[2]

During Jerusalem's 2018 municipal elections, a polling station operated at Ibn Rushd School. Although East Jerusalem Palestinians have generally boycotted municipal elections, a local all-Palestinian list, Jerusalem, My Town, led by Sur Baher native Ramadan Dabash, attracted neighborhood participation. Approximately 400 Palestinians had voted at the school by early afternoon, and all 13 Sur Baher voters interviewed said they supported the local list.[9]

Residents have also pursued coexistence initiatives with neighboring Jewish communities. Eliezer Yaari organized meetings involving residents of Sur Baher, Umm Tuba, Arnona, and Kibbutz Ramat Rachel.[8] Sur Baher also appears among the Palestinian-majority neighborhoods of Jerusalem identified in U.S. human-rights reporting.[10]

The al-'Umari Mosque commemorates a local tradition that Caliph Umar passed through Sur Baher on his way to Jerusalem in 634 CE and stayed in the village for two nights. The account is presented as local tradition rather than independently established history.[1]

Sur Baher and nearby Umm Tuba also contain archaeological remains associated with earlier settlement. A documented open archaeological site in Umm Tuba includes rock-cut cisterns, mosaic remains, and caves, while ruins elsewhere in the wider area include additional cisterns and ancient structures. In western Sur Baher, remains of a former Jordanian Legion position known to the Israel Defense Forces as the Bell Outpost are also visible.[1]

A general outline plan for Sur Baher and Umm Tuba was approved in 1999 but had not been implemented by the time of a 2014 research report.[1] The plan identified a need for approximately 670 dunams of public facilities and parks by 2030; at the time of the report, no functioning public parks existed in the area.[1] The neighborhood also faced housing pressure, congested roads, limited sidewalks, and inadequate public open space.[1]

In 2016, Sur Baher opened what was reported as its first and only playground, equipped with two slides, a merry-go-round, and two swings.[11] It was built in one month using a Belgian donation of NIS 200,000 channeled through UN-Habitat, with local residents helping clear and pave the site.[11] The playground was expected to serve an estimated 40,000 residents but had not yet received municipal authorization or construction permits at the time of its opening.[11]

The neighborhood's growth has pressed eastward, with many houses built outside the municipal boundary established in 1967.[1] Residents prepared an outline plan at their own expense to address housing shortages, but the state had not approved it at the time of the cited report.[4] Parts of the wider Sur Baher area, including Deir al-'Amud and al-Muntar, lie outside the municipal boundary on the Israeli side of the security barrier.[1]

Wadi Hummus, also rendered Wadi al-Hummus or Wadi al-Hums, is a newer and densely built area associated with Sur Baher. It lies outside Jerusalem's municipal boundary but on the Israeli side of the security barrier.[3][2] The area covers approximately 400 dunams and includes buildings of ten or more floors.[3][2] Some residents originally from Sur Baher hold Israeli residency cards; others are residents of the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and lack Israeli residency status.[3]

The area includes portions designated as Areas A, B, and C under the Oslo arrangements, creating layered Israeli and Palestinian Authority responsibilities.[3] Sources differ over municipal services: the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs says Jerusalem Municipality provides minimal services such as garbage removal, while a 2024 Jerusalem Institute study says the municipality provides residents no services.[3][2] The municipality does not hold planning or licensing authority there. Water is supplied through a neighborhood association that purchases it from the Gihon water company, electricity comes from the East Jerusalem Electricity Company, and residents initiated internet infrastructure.[3][2]

When the barrier was initially planned, its route would have followed the municipal boundary and separated Wadi Hummus from Sur Baher proper.[3] Local residents opposed the separation, lobbied against it, and appealed to the Supreme Court. The route was subsequently changed so that Wadi Hummus remained on the Israeli side of the barrier even though it falls outside Jerusalem's municipal territory.[3]

At the end of 2011, the Israeli military issued an order prohibiting construction in a strip extending 100 to 300 meters on either side of the security barrier.[3] When the order was issued, 134 structures stood in the prohibited area; by mid-2019, the number had risen to 231.[3] The same source separately reported that 97 illegal structures had been built in the zone over the previous eight years without explaining whether the categories were identical.[3]

Residents of Sur Baher and Umm Tuba built in Wadi al-Hummus after encountering severe difficulty obtaining Israeli building permits elsewhere, and they held approvals issued by the Palestinian Authority's planning ministry.[4] A 2011 military order prohibited construction within 250 meters of the barrier, after which the Civil Administration issued demolition orders for newer buildings.[4] A seven-year legal battle followed, during which residents argued that most structures held Palestinian Authority permits and that Wadi al-Hummus was the neighborhood's only viable direction for expansion.[12][13] The High Court of Justice dismissed two petitions in a ruling dated 17 May 2019.[4] Justice Menachem Mazuz wrote that "the authority of the military commander to apply his authority for security reasons, including imposing restrictions on building based on military security needs, also applies to Areas A and B."[3]

On 22 July 2019, Israeli security forces demolished 12 buildings and two building-foundation sites in Wadi al-Hummus, with hundreds of soldiers and police officers participating in an unusually large operation.[4] Eleven buildings were unfinished shells; only the ground floor of the remaining building was inhabited.[4] Israel's Defense Ministry said the structures lacked required permits under the military order and posed a security risk to the barrier, while property owners maintained that they held valid Palestinian Authority approvals.[4]

Before the operation, the UN humanitarian affairs agency estimated that the ruling affected approximately 70 apartments, would displace 17 people, and would affect about 350 others.[13] CAMERA reported that 15 people occupied some of the 12 buildings, while a Palestinian official cited by CAMERA UK estimated that approximately 30 people were forced to leave. These figures may represent different measures and were not reconciled by the sources.[12][14]

Palestinian officials and advocacy organizations condemned the demolitions. The PLO Negotiation Affairs Department warned that the ruling could set a precedent for further demolitions along the barrier, while residents feared that another 100 buildings might face a similar risk.[12][13] The Israeli court's position was that construction had proceeded without the special permit required from the military commander and that security-based building restrictions near the barrier could legally apply in Areas A and B.[3][4]