An Israeli court on Sunday extended the detention of the PA appointed ‘Jerusalem District Governor,’ known agitator Adnan Ghaith for four days, and to have him transferred to the Ofer military court, according to PA sources.
Ghaith, a resident of Kfar Hashiloach (Silwan),was picked up Saturday night by Israel Police and the Shin Bet, together with the PA chief of intelligence for the Jerusalem district Colonel Jihad al-Faqih. Speculation is that the two were arrested for their role in the PA’s arrest and interrogation of an Arab American over the sale of a home in eastern Jerusalem to Jews, or in advance of the anticipated evacuation of the illegal Bedouin settlement of Khan al-Ahmar.
Ghaith is known as a prominent anti-Israel activist in Kfar Hashiloach, who agitates against the Jewish families moving into the neighborhood.
Modern settlement of the western ridge of the neighborhood of Kfar Hashiloach (Silwan) began in 1873-1874, when the Meyuchas family moved out of the Old City to a new home on the ridge called the City of David. In 1881–82, a group of Jews arrived from Yemen and Jewish philanthropists purchased land in the Shiloach valley to establish a neighborhood for them. By 1884, the Yemenites had settled into new stone houses at the south end of the Arab village, built for them by a Jewish charity called Ezrat Niddahim.
Construction costs were kept low by using the Shiloach spring as a water source instead of digging cisterns. In 1896, the population of Kfar Hashiloach was estimated to be about 939 persons.
