The aljazeera documentary archive to bring you some of the best and most influential programs of the past decade as well as news of how the stories of moved on since jerusalem it was a holy city to all 3 major abrahamic religions jews muslims and christians that coexisted within its walls for centuries but it is only the jews who lay claim to it as their exclusive capital and that is a position thats been given added force since donald trump came to power in the United States and in the face of International Law recognized israels capital as well as announcing he would relocate the u. S. Embassy there in tel aviv and in recent decades israeli settlements have been springing up in East Jerusalem previously recognized as palestinian it is a process that has been developing for many decades but in 2009 Jackie Rowland went to the front line of what can only be described as a battle for the right to live in a city that is the beating heart of the holy land from 2009 this is holy land grab. Jerusalem for. Hundreds of years the most recent. In 1960. In defiance of International Law. Since then israel has been. Working with determination to weld the 2 parts of the city into its eternal indivisible capital by building houses for jews and destroying houses been the entire our ups. Israels project is nearly complete within a year or 2 if no one intervenes the invisible line dividing jerusalem into jewish and arab parts will be erased. The palestinian village of city one clings to a steep hill side facing the force of the old city in the valley below lies i was stunned neighborhood its a setting resonant with meeting for muslims christians and jews. To be standing about is situated in the most important one of the most important areas in jerusalem right next to the walls of the engine city situated wide where the temple mount is is observed very very closely so it is one of the most important areas in journalism and maybe maybe in the entire war so the israeli authorities have plans for. They say the houses in these narrow alleyways were built without permits they want to flatten the whole neighborhood and tun it into open parkland 6. Its a Tourist Development plan that would wreck the lives of an entire Palestinian Community the municipality has slapped a demolition the waters on 88. 00 houses which would make 1500. 00 people homeless her or her or her. Mom is one of them hes the local him and he lives with his wife and children in a street proudly decorated with scenes from the old city. And there will be in the end the hell 1000000000 is with donovan in the middle in a thought of peace. And then when the. Thought. For. Another card number little bit of the we are merely because youre on the other can move this lean or you know you can lift me up for me and shake in. A little house over the. Federal saw yet the. Saw the neighborhood is changing dotted around the hillside houses away jewish settlers have moved in they built extra rooms sometimes extra floors but the chef doesnt recall any of these houses being demolished at the same time a battle for historical the just a messy is on the way archaeologists and taking several sites in East Jerusalem with a clear political agenda to uncover evidence of ancient jewish life that would strengthen israels claim to the whole city we havent been allowed to go in and film what you think matches up with current horizons of this present stage of archaeology here and see which is archaeology behind fences and it seems they want to keep things under wraps to prevent people from from hearing it and what about you have you been able to get a site i cant get into any of the sites bird from visiting but it seems that the entrepreneurs have heard it doesnt want criticism like a sort of work. One reason for that the Antiquities Authority which is a state body has handed over some of the sites to a private Organization Called an ad which is run by Israeli Settlers. Who runs the national or has taken the interpretation associating with fragmentary names when in durban it has maybe at a corner store a very tired protest of the site so that really history for them begins with and when in fact archaeological remains can be directly associated with very bitter almost nonexistent. So theres a definite conflict of interest there between their role as stewards of the ancient heritage and their role as surplus and as people who want to actually dispossessed that have a sunni insurgency to. Meet one such settler area a king. Armed only with a motor scooter and a crash helmet he wants to evict palestinians from East Jerusalem and replace them with jewish families hes on a crusade to extend jewish ownership over the whole of the city. If i would compare it to an onion if we havent the onion the. Heart and this is the temple mount this is the city we are trying to put a layer of more live in order to protect the heart of the onion because it was a time when we know what is up and then when you try to cut the onion usually silver in your eyes and our aim is to not to get through this situation of. 2 after you because somebody is trying to cut. The layers hes talking about a jewish settlements in sin one in the mount of olives and in russian a mood. Israel is gradually connecting the settlements and the archaeological parks to form a belt around the old city danny suydam and is a lawyer who keeps a close watch on the settlements hes come to look at some apartments for jews that have been built in the palestinian neighborhood of job and. Now there are as a rule 2 kinds of settlements in East Jerusalem one kind are the settlements sponsored by the government and the the other kind of settlements are ideologically motivated messianic settlements and you can see that theres one like that you see that really. Knowing the difference between just because he stopped. The war. Doesnt last that we have a real public property here. It is like a childs coloring book connect the dots and connecting the dots is basically the and circle meant of the old city by a ring of settlements and a settler unformed narrative in a public human. Mussa is worried the people from the municipality have been back this time with heavily armed police to hand out more demolition notice me around the. In order was stuck. So so do we in you who would be in yeah. In. The i was the meanwhile mess here. And then. The locals. On the hilltop overlooking sawan is among the street built close to the spot where the disciple Judas Iscariot is believed to have killed himself. Judas betrayed jesus for 30 pieces of silver and treachery still lurks in the valley. Mohamed merah admits that for several years he conspired against his fellow palestinians he says Israeli Police coerced him into helping the settlers grab property in silwan they ran a simple scam 1st find a victim then make problems for him mother used to operate as a go between a con man who tricked bribed and smooth talk palestinians into parting with their property im sure my mash for now will show me a. Part of the senate served recordable or grass or so. Im sure for him a shift of harvest so the effort reassemble after all of the rusher and all of the enabling what it was for. To morrow and share my mom figure out under a scam. On the road again with the settler king another man trying to separate palestinians from their homes but he insists that hes working within the law. Or go. Live. In a very few franken from the co arms from the bible. Explaining. Why young children. Well believe in living in the land belonged to the jewish nation and we are also telling them that if the problem of them got through them but the current and we are arguing over them and we can for our National Problem the way to do it is by. Finding their work in other places over the world. The teachers are understandably angry are a king is inciting palestinians to leave their homeland a kind of ethnic cleansing different with of them put. Back in ill stand people are increasingly worried about israels plans to demolish their homes and turn the neighborhood into a public park the municipality has sent envoys into the valley offering the palestinians alternative lands on the outskirts of jerusalem if they agree to leave their homes the people of stun said no. She decides to take their grievances to the city hall. The Planning Committee is in session these are the people who make decisions that affect the lives of thousands of palestinians living in the east of the city. The new mare of jerusalem told al jazeera that all Committee Meetings are open to the public and anyone can ask a question we decide to put his offer to the test the. We would like to ask a question we would like a resident of jerusalem to be allowed to ask the question or you are disturbing. To ok folks. Have it you can tell. It seems that the mess decision hasnt filtered down to his counselors in the end the chairman of the committee invited us to continue the conversation in his office. And i gently and. If syria were allowed. Their whole movement of them a. Lot of all of it who i may have been leveling with doing it that they could kind on letterman so lets have a button and theres a bit button and sell at the shop but with nationality shop but nourish. So we are. Given selfish cannot. Come this way and the under the old dont. Let me be doing it that they can own let them so lets have a. Way so for sure your. Shake or missionary type we stand in with study from has overcome a conscience you know can cut it she should but if it blows. To the north of the old city settlers have also established a foothold in the palestinian neighborhood of shit show raw they say jews bought land here before israels war of independence in 1948 although local palestinians disputes that claim of ownership the settlers have gradually taken over several buildings sholay with them no a local economy. There was alive you fail. You have a theft i mean the national i know reputable. In our ballot thought. Now the settlers have their eye on 2 more palestinian houses which they say were built on land belonging to jews. The settlers have plans to build hundreds of apartments for jews on land where palestinian homes are standing now this land grab in chef shira has provoked an International Outcry led by the u. S. Secretary of state hillary clinton. What mrs clinton doing she gave the pope think criminal. She thought both think people but a criminal valve quoting to our land building on our land if you legal. Not satisfied simply with affecting palestinians from areas close to the old city area king has decided to boldly go into New Territory beyond israels separation wall this is generally off limits for israelis but not for irene came. Just off the kalandia. Checkpoint facing you know we know right now and. Next day what we were crossing into. And the last one would be for me to meet all of them our neighborhoods or. We will feel the end of the road the building that belongs that is built on our land right now we can see the people building the illegal building along with them to jews on the left he claims that this land has been in jewish hands for more than 70 years with. All of this beautiful palace on my lawn and the police not coming here they want to pretty dont care about whats happening here and when we are talking about illegal buildings maybe the best example because you have been the building it on jewish land and nobody is taking care of the it is why i call the area the wide if behind on the moment this is. Yeah this is on the other side of the wall its your mothers side of the old School Student body this is the 5th part of it was a line exactly like where i live mount olive. And yet the hayfork no. She did not commit. She will surely let her. Run of the of the walk over the thought of her thought they are for her for a while given the other how did you do the argument with them but they do not. Have the will of us about. This land has been fought over conquered and lost many times the greeks the romans the muslims the crusaders just some of the armies who did battle here who owns jerusalem becomes a matter of historical interpretation. Even in recent times the land surrounding the old city has passed through turkish british and jordanian hands the occupying power sometimes issued Land Ownership documents to People Living there and this is where modern day israel applies double standards it often accepts documents from previous rulers when theyre presented by jews but not when theyre presented by arabs. And so ari a king will continue his mission to remove palestinians from jerusalem and erase their history replacing it with a purity jewish narrative. And chef who so will continue his battle to save his home and his heritage from the settlers in the city planning. Were on and have a plan as this is as far as how many jews or arabs living is when even if true that means one thing is about the defines a certain area as it was dental area it doesnt say whether its going to be our houses or houses for jews this is up to the owner of the land to decide. We are holding on by our fingernails to the 2 state solution today it is still barely possible to reach out a political boundary and in jerusalem which will be both acceptable to the parties and viable after the agreement is reached we are very close to losing that if Current Trends continue for another 6 months new york or 2 years this all be lost. Many powers have dreamt about jerusalem it is israels dream to crown the city as its eternal undivided capital that dream is now close to becoming reality. The government and the settlers swallowing up East Jerusalem this is happening right under the nose of the International Community yet hardly a voice is raised in protest. And that was holy land grab and im pleased to say joining us here in the studio there is our gentleman who spent several months in jerusalem recently making a film or 2 that film in fact for aljazeera jerusalem a rock and a hard place so if we think about these 2 films whats the difference between them and whats changed in that time or what hasnt changed even as many palestinians and even israelis probably would tell you that the situation in the city of jerusalem occupied you some that is has only got worse the wall that started at that time is now almost complete jerusalem is separated from its nearby west Bank Strategic depth hinterland so to speak there are more more encroachment on the old city in jerusalem and as i want to characters would would say its almost game over for jerusalem but the main game over for many palestinians who i met through the making of this film they say our lives has become almost impossible in jerusalem you will find more and more you still might leaving the city to live in the suburbs of jerusalem and increasingly you will find less and less palestinians in the city which is what many of the Israeli Settlers going to. Dream really and what often surprises me and which i was confronted with while i was in jerusalem is that this settle organization is not something on the fringes of israeli politics it is the most powerful Political Movement in israel and not only that they have powerful friends in the United States you know yes sadly in many ways the palestinians are in a tight spot literally between a rock and a hard place saying saying is you mention it out we have got a clip from your film jerusalem a rock and a hard place lets have a look. This was a business for palestinians in jerusalem i remember. I was a little kid i would come with my family this was the most expensive part of jerusalem it was an Industrial Zone as israel decides to build the wall that connects the street there used to be a street that connects with all of the front communities in the East Jerusalem they come they build their wall and they shut it and they say you are no longer have access to your neighbor you no longer have access to your school you no longer have access to your work. We came down from the neighborhood that i live in good infrastructure the new u. S. Embassy and then you drive down the 1st thing you get is a Police Station a Border Police that kind of clarifies from this point on we need to be in control and then you drive through a person never heard that because theres a settlement here theres so many behind us then you see theres good infrastructure theres lights theres sidewalks and then the entrance of the settlement comes and just after it ends theres no sidewalk. Neighborhood and you really see the difference and the fact that nobody cares about the infrastructure from that point on because really its about infrastructure for jewish population. So we see omar and so hard in that clip can you tell us a little bit more about them almost a Young Christian palestinian from East Jerusalem his family goes back to the 13th century so its a man with roots for me and throughout the film you get to really go on this journey with who shows you that the Israeli Occupation doesnt really differentiate between a muslim and a christian it differentiates against all posters and the story of omar really and capture that and then we saw on the other side is an extremely atypical israeli the vast majority of israelis from a young age 16 years old above serve in the israeli army and in many ways and this is one of the issues weve also touched on in the film although the israelis interact with palestinians almost on a daily level they dont would you know the past is there a very alienated from them the only. The way they know them is from the other side of the gum where they are the checkpoint or on a patrol such lets talk about jerusalem the city rather than when youve been striving to 2 people they are the city itself when i think about recent history i think about Donald Trumps visits there the u. S. Recognizing jerusalem as israels capital and moving its embassy there i think its embassy there. That has a huge effect on the city and were talking about the United States having in effect a not even the israelis and the palestinians indeed from the fig leaves that used to surround the role of the United States has really fallen for many years the United States describe yourself as an honest broker but with trump he says it as it is and what was convoluted and packaged in nice words before in the Clinton Administration or the Obama Administration its now out there so for the palestinians very demoralising and also of many arab countries many arab countries believe that the united is the friend of the arab world but the people on the street the people you meet in jerusalem will tell you otherwise and i would you a great to have you with us thank you so much thank you thank you for joining us do be sure to check out the rewind page they were down to 0 dot com for more films from the series im come out santa maria for the whole team thanks for joining us this either. Rewind returns with a new series. And brand dates on the best down to series documentaries. That was released and just to. Remind continues with the last tried secret army of the cia its down to 75 delivering the same way that their ancestors did living in the forest in the jungle and it seems like theyre abandoned by everybody on aljazeera. Breaks everybody on this planet matter everybody has an hour when people need to be heard and the story needs to be told here Human Development has moved right to the edge of the forest with exclusive interviews and indepth reports it is a disease going to affect anyone any age aljazeera has teams on the ground this is the Main Business lobby money or the person here to bring you more Award Winning documentaries and life news. Once welcomed now fear. Dividing a nation. Aljazeera explores germanys long Term Economic strategy of pursuing immigrants from the arab world i feel more gentle and syrian. Money does a richer get those people put up. One german and american the new germans on aljazeera. And enormous explosion kills at least 78 people in beirut sending a Mushroom Cloud into the sky and destructive shock waves through the city. More than 4000 people are injured hospitals are overwhelmed pleading for blood supplies and generators to keep their lights on. Its 6 am in beirut these are live pictures of the aftermath of that explosion that rocked the city. Down in jordan this is al jazeera