On February 11, 2008, the police detained five Palestinians from Silwan, a day after they had petitioned the High Court, asking to halt the unlicensed excavations being carried out under their homes.  These excavations are under the management of the Antiquities Authority with funding from the Elad Organization.  On 19.3.08, the High Court ordered the Antiquities Authority to conditionally halt these excavations, until further investigation by the court. This is the first time that the court has intervened in this matter.

On July 13, 2008,  the Magistrate Court upheld an appeal by four Palestinian residents from Silwan against the Jerusalem Municipality's decision to expropriate five plots of land for the construction of parking lots. The court declared that photographs and other evidence reveal that contrary to their definition by law, in reality these plots of land are not "empty lots".  The petitioners are represented by Attorney Sami Ershed, who is a member of Ir Amim's board.