Gilo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Jerusalem neighbourhood. For other uses, see Gilo (disambiguation).
Gilo (; Hebrew: גילֹה) is a neighborhood in southern Jerusalem which was established on land annexed to the municipality after the 1967 Six-Day War. As of 2002, 40,000 people reside in the neighborhood, making it one of the largest in the city. Gilo was named after a biblical Judean town whose name was preserved by the neighboring Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala.
Much of Gilo's land was owned by Jewish institutions[1] prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, though because the neighborhood is located in territory captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, it is sometimes considered an Israeli settlement[2].
Gilo lies on Slaiyeb mountain in the southwest quadrant of Jerusalem. It is separated from the more urban downtown by a large, forested recreation area. To Gilo's south, a deep gorge lies between it and Beit Jala. The Tunnels Highway to Gush Etzion runs underneath it on the east, and the settlement of Har Gilo, which shares its name, is visible across the gorge on the adjacent peak. North of Gilo are the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Beit Safafa and Manahat.
Between 2000-2002, during the course of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, over 400 incidences of shooting from Beit Jala into Gilo took place. Though no residents were killed, some were seriously injured and there was much damage to property. The Israeli Government ultimately bulletproofed the outer row of homes[3].
