Pisgat Ze'ev (Hebrew: פסגת זאב, lit. Ze'ev's Peak), is an Israeli settlement and a residential neighborhood with a population of 50,000 located in northern East Jerusalem. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, although the Israeli government disputes this.[1] It was established on land annexed, in a move internationally condemned, to Israel after the Six Day War, as one of the five ring neighborhoods. Construction began in 1982, and the first families moved in three years later. Pisgat Ze'ev is situated east of the Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, west of the Arab villages of Hizma and 'Anata, and south of Neve Yaakov.
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Archeological evidence shows that the region was a major producer of wine and oil for use in the Temple in Jerusalem. Pisgat Ze'ev was established in 1984 to create a contiguous Jewish link with Neve Yaakov, which had been isolated from other Jewish areas. The neighborhood was established on a hill known by the Arabs as Ras a-Tawill, 772 meters above sea level. The original name proposal was "Pisgat Tal," but the final choice was Pisgat Ze'ev, after the Revisionist Zionist leader, Ze'ev Jabotinsky.[2] It is one of Jerusalem's ring neighborhoods.
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Pisgat Ze'ev consists of five sections: Center (1984), West (1988), East and North (1990), and South (1998). It is linked to downtown Jerusalem by a direct freeway, Route 60 (referred to by many as "Road 1", its official designation within the Jerusalem Municipality). Technically speaking, Pisgat Ze'ev lies in the northern sector of Jerusalem and its location is only referred to as "East Jerusalem" due to the fact it was established east of the Green Line. Pisgat Ze'ev is located in territory occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed, first through the Jerusalem annexation directorate of 1967, then through the Jerusalem Law of 1980. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared the annexation of East Jerusalem to be illegal under international law, and the international community considers the territory to be held by Israel under military occupation.[3]
The establishment of Pisgat Ze'ev increased the proportion of Jews living in East Jerusalem relative to the number of Arabs. In 1990, there were 150,000 Arabs and 120,000 Jews in East Jerusalem; in 1993, there were 155,000 Arabs and 160,000 Jews.[4][5]
In the spring of 2004, the Israeli West Bank barrier was built to separate Pisgat Ze'ev and other Jerusalem suburbs from the West Bank. One result was an increase of Palestinians with Jerusalem residency moving into Pisgat Ze'ev, which has a largely homogeneous Jewish population.[6]
The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory and are as such illegal under customary international law.[7] Israel disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross.[8][9]
With 40 percent of the residents under the age of 21, Pisgat Ze'ev has 58 kindergartens, 9 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and 3 high schools. There are also 22 synagogues and 2 libraries.
The Red Line of Jerusalem's new light rail system will run from Pisgat Ze’ev in the northeast, south along Road 1 to Jaffa Road, westward to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, southwest, crossing the Chords Bridge to the Beit Hakerem neighborhood, and terminating at Mount Herzl, on the outskirts of the Bayit Vegan neighborhood. The project has aroused anger among Palestinians, who say the route trespasses on their land.[10]
Moshe Dayan Boulevard, beginning at Highway 1 (Israel) in the south and ending in Neve Yaakov in the north, is named after the famed Israeli Army general. It is Pisgat Ze'ev's major commercial thoroughfare, including many shops, eateries and the Pisga Mall. Many of the street names in Pisgat Ze'ev commemorate leading Israeli personalities such as Simcha Holtzberg, Moshe Rachmilewitz, Eliyahu Meridor and Meir Gershon. In the center of Pisgat Ze'ev, many streets are named for Israel Defense Force units that fought in the country's wars. A memorial for fallen soldiers is located in an archeological park in central Pisgat Ze'ev.
With the help of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the residents of Pisgat Ze'ev transformed a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site used as an illegal dumping ground into a wildflower sanctuary with over 55 species of trees and plants.[11]
A passenger bus leaving the Pisgat Ze'ev terminus was blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber in May 2003. Seven people were killed in the attack and dozens were wounded. The police said the bomber boarded the bus disguised as a religious Jew, wearing a kippa and a prayer shawl.[12] One of the victims was a resident of the Shuafat refugee camp, on his way to work at the Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem.[13]