Silwan inscription and endorsement of the Zionist-Biblical narrative about the city of Jerusalem!

Written by: Abdel Razek Matani

In the recent period, the story of the "Silwan inscription" was raised, following the visit of Israeli President Herzog to Turkey and his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan, and a rumor spread about Turkey's intention to gift this inscription to the Israeli authorities, which calls it the "Hezekiah Inscription", but this matter was denied. By the Turkish authorities, who stated that these rumors were not true, and that this matter was not even raised for discussion within the Turkish corridors, despite the Israeli authorities’ request for the inscription over and over again.


We must first point out that we are not talking about just an inscription, but rather an inscription that is considered a cornerstone, the most important discovery, and the main reference in the Zionist narrative about Jerusalem . It is also considered an inscription dated for writing from the eighth century BC, according to the common date that was given to him by several Jewish theologians and researchers.

Rather, it has become considered a source and a reference mainly against which the inscriptions and writings that appeared after it are measured and dated according to it, in addition to that they relied on the history of the water channel (Silwan Canal) and weaved the narrative around it on this inscription, and therefore its value exceeds the abstract value of the inscription and represents an integrated narrative that the Israeli establishment seeks to enforce it in practice.

From this point of view and the fact that it is not just an inscription, but rather a cornerstone, as we mentioned, the claim of the Israeli institution to acquire it goes beyond being a mere claim for a stone or an abstract inscription, but rather includes efforts to endorse the Zionist-Biblical narrative about the history of Jerusalem , as according to them it is considered proof of the Jewish right to The Holy City, and therefore if it was handed over by the Turkish authorities to the Israeli establishment, this may be interpreted as an official endorsement by the Turkish sovereignty of the Zionist narrative and narrative about Jerusalem and their entitlement to it.

Through my knowledge of what is happening in the Holy City in terms of replacing history, and following up on the efforts of the Israeli institution not only to impose actual domination over the city, but also to extend domination over the memory of the place and depict its history in accordance with what serves its agenda, and my follow-up to studies issued in Hebrew by senior Israeli researchers and the large space that This issue took him into the media and the Jewish community, not only in the wake of the aforementioned visit, but also years ago. I decided to write this article.

In it, I review the narrative related to the inscription and the channel through the considered Hebrew sources, noting that there are many researchers in the world who have shed light on the many problems related to this inscription, and yet this narrative remains dominant in the Israeli arena, and perhaps its collapse means the collapse of a pillar of the historical narrative Which they weave around the holy city and thus collapse the whole narrative.

The Zionist-Biblical narrative about the inscription and the tunnel
Many modern Israeli sources and studies on the story of Silwan mention that prior to the possible siege of the city by the Assyrians led by Sennacherib in the eighth century BC, King Hezekiah dug an alternative channel (tunnel) to transport water through it from the spring of "Jihon" and prevent its exit from the external channels that supply Orchards outside the walls with water, directing it to the pool of Silwan (Umm al-Daraj), thus preventing the Assyrian soldiers from benefiting from the water during the siege of the city.

It is reported that the tunnel was discovered in 1838 by Edward Robinson during the Ottoman Empire's rule of Jerusalem - knowing that the tunnel was known to the people of Jerusalem and Silwan, but this date follows the exploration of the tunnel by Western explorers - and after 42 years (in 1880) the inscription was found inside the tunnel At the hands of a Jewish boy who was swimming in the Silwan Pool, this inscription was considered an inscription to immortalize the moment the two groups of diggers met in the middle of the tunnel after they worked in opposite directions due to lack of time. According to them, the inscription was engraved directly on the smooth wall of the tunnel, meters away from the entrance.

According to what is reported on the authority of Hermann Goethe (1891) of the German Society for the Study of Palestine, and the study of the inscription is attributed to him, he says that the inscription was pulled out in 1890 from the wall by peasants after a Palestinian dignitary (unknown) ordered them to do so, and the stone was broken into 6 or 7 pieces when attempt to steal it. After the original inscription was hidden, news reached the Ottoman Mutasarrif of Jerusalem , who ordered a search for it. After effort, its location was discovered, and an identical fake inscription was also found next to it.

As for the piece, which was defined as original, it was transferred to Istanbul and is still in the museum to this day. Adding that it is very unfortunate that such an ancient relic was destroyed in such a failed accident. The copies which I made in 1881 are now given great value because they only give a reliable and complete picture of the engraving before it was demolished.

Reproduction made by Hermann Goethe for an engraving (1881)
There are many studies that dealt with the subject of the inscription, but also presented to us the story of its discovery in different details, which would radically affect reading the inscription and understanding the purpose of its excavation, or giving it a date, which requires us to review it in a detailed study enriched with sources, which goes beyond the purpose of However, this article raises several obvious questions, the answers to which are still vague:

Who wrote the text, when was it written, and in what era?!
Shouldn't an inscription of this size be visible to the explorers who documented the tunnel and visited it repeatedly before discovering the tunnel and providing explanations and details about it, yet it was not found until after 42 years!

If we assume that the explanation that some researchers are trying to market is that the inscription came to commemorate the moment when the groups of diggers met:

Isn't it supposed to be engraved at the meeting place or to be placed at the entrance to the tunnel or at the exit and not a few meters away from the entrance? Was the meeting meters away from the entrance?!
Was there really a need to build the canal (the water tunnel), which required a great effort in light of the possible siege on the city, according to the Zionist narrative?!
Are there archaeological evidence confirming the presence of King Hezekiah in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C., and was Jerusalem a Jewish city during that period (other than, of course, the Zionist-Biblical narrative)?!
To answer these questions we say:

First: The rock on which the inscription is inscribed is smooth and wide, but it is empty on the sides (according to the reproduction), meaning that the inscription and inscription are complete and undivided. However, there is no mention of the siege of the city in the inscription, and the date of excavation is not mentioned, or the name of the ruler who ordered the excavation of the canal. Also, the usual formula of praising the ruler or the king was not mentioned, as is the case with major projects.

Second: The text extracted from the inscription is by Hermann Goethe (1891), who is one of the founders of the German Society for the Study of Palestine, and he indicated with his testimony that we mentioned that the original inscription was destroyed, and that the text that reached us depends on his reproduction of the original inscription, which became the source for studying the text, which raises suspicion About the originality of the inscription or the fact that the inscription is original, since we receive it from a single source, who is considered one of the pioneers of the Orientalists and theologians who established the Zionist-Biblical narrative in Jerusalem and one of the first to link the inscription to the Biblical story, noting that there is nothing definitive or proof based on it, so this narrative is based on speculations They suspect orientalists such as Goethe and others who originally came to prove the biblical narrative and strengthen it through tangible effects, and whose impartiality is doubtful.


These speculations became the basis of the Zionist-Biblical narrative, but rather became a reference for "researchers" seeking to impose this narrative on the ground without argument or evidence, relying on the accumulation of assumptions and the actions of the vanguards of the Orientalists who did not research the history of Palestine and Jerusalem as much as they sought to impose their narrative and achieve it on The land of the holy city, thus undermining the history of the city.

Third: At the time of digging the tunnel, according to the biblical account (the eighth century BC), there was a central tunnel nearby adjacent to it that reached the eye (it is called the Bear Warren system), which is much older than it and continued to be used for many centuries, so what is the need for this tunnel when it was possible to suffice By closing the channels outside the walls and reaching the spring safely, or by digging reservoirs close to the spring to collect the surplus water and not by digging a tunnel of about 500 meters in light of the circumstance and the danger imminent in the city!

Fourth: The biblical story mentions the use of large groups of volunteers to dig the tunnel, and by examining the studies that reviewed the professional and technical side, it appears that the digging was carried out by a small, experienced group of experts and professionals, and that the matter was done with extreme precision, which contradicts the Zionist-Biblical narrative.

Fifth: It seems that this branch was built for the purpose of strengthening the city with water and making more use of the water reserves, meaning that it was not a major source of water, and came to serve the expansion of the town.

Sixth: Specialists think - based on the forms of the calligraphy - that the inscription was written in the original Canaanite language, and therefore the inscription, if it was original, is a Canaanite inscription that fits with the history of the city.

Seventh: If we exclude the subject of the inscription, then we are talking about a system and water channels known from the ancient periods and similar to those found in the Canaanite-Palestinian cities (kingdoms of cities), and therefore it is likely that the talk is about an original Canaanite channel. And if we take the abstract inscription, it talks about the works of dividing a canal and does not carry any political connotations.

Eighth: Such events of the campaigns and victories of kings are often immortalized in inscriptions and royal records. The campaign is attributed to the Assyrian king Sennacherib, but there is no mention of his siege of Jerusalem and the fight against the "Jewish state", neither in the inscriptions that perpetuate his campaigns against the country nor in any other place. There is documentation of his campaign against the neighboring city of Lachish!

In short, the inscription talks about a project to dig a tunnel that has nothing to do with the biblical king "Hezekiah" or other kings of the biblical narrative, and also the Zionist-biblical narrative about the city of Jerusalem is highly questionable and has no archaeological proof. It is not possible to ascertain the date of the excavation, or the reason for the excavation, but what is certain is that the canal was not excavated because of the siege of the city, or that it was one of the genius plans to supply the city with a source of water at the time of the siege. And it aims to take advantage of the city’s water and perhaps make it available more easily to the town’s residents. We are talking about an authentic Canaanite tunnel, like other tunnels and channels known in the ancient Canaanite-Palestinian cities that served the inhabitants of the “kingdoms of cities” and facilitated their access to water sources. As for the attempt to attribute it to King Hezekiah It is only a matter of interpreting the antiquities of Jerusalem and Palestine, and I hold the necks of texts and their interpretations to serve the Zionist-Biblical narrative.

In the end, the Silwan inscription is but one of many examples of the history of Jerusalem that we have lost; Despite his presence in a country with ancient Islamic origins, he - and unfortunately - was not examined and studied as it should be by Arab and Muslim researchers compared to Western and Jewish researchers. Old Jerusalem that many of us don't know.

Unfortunately, we have come to deal with this ancient history of the holiest cities through the policy of reaction and what the media reports, and we only care about it on the sidelines of the media highlighting it, while the Holy City is exposed to the most violent and largest Judaization campaign.

Perhaps when we want to research or explore the history of the city, we fall into the trap of "information" that we receive from the colonialist, orientalist, or theologian, to find ourselves falling short in researching and verifying the history of the city. Perhaps this is an occasion through which we emphasize the need for serious work and research for the sake of the Holy City, preserving its history and saving what is left of it. About "Al Jazeera Net"