hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a quarter of the uk population will be under extra lockdown rules — as new measures come into force across parts of northern england and wales over the weekend. it comes as 1,700 students in manchester are told to stay in their halls of residence for two weeks after a spike in coronavirus cases. the department of health say they are working to fix a problem with the nhs test and trace app in england and wales after some users were unable to input negative test results. tributes are paid to a popular and talented police officer killed at a custody centre in south london. sergeant matt ratana was shot, as a suspect in handcuffs was being booked in.

us media say donald trump will nominate conservative federaljudge, amy coney barrett to the supreme court. a formal announcement from the white house is expected later. now on bbc news... an investigation by bbc news arabic into russian oligarch roman abramovich, who controls companies that have donated $100 million to elad, a settler organisation operating in occupied eastjerusalem. a small neighbourhood at the outskirts ofjerusalem's a small neighbourhood at the outskirts of jerusalem's old a small neighbourhood at the outskirts ofjerusalem's old city. it is home to about 20,000 palestinians. but to the growing number ofjewish palestinians. but to the growing number of jewish settlers, the neighbourhood is the city of david. it is ofa

neighbourhood is the city of david. it is of a special importance to the jewish people because that is our ancestral heritage but because comic so ancestral heritage but because comic so that everything we find, the entire story of the city of david is really our story. the settlers are backed by an organisation called elad, whose aim is to assess or strengthen the jewish elad, whose aim is to assess or strengthen thejewish presence in this palestinian neighbourhood. 0ver the last 15 years, nearly half of elad's donated funding has come from offshore companies in the caribbean from anonymous donor, but a leak of bank documents has found the man behind these companies, chelsea football clubs owner, israel's richest man, roman abramovich. bbc arabic investigates.

this family of on their way to the jerusalem district court. they are fighting to stay in their home in eastjerusalem. the family are palestinian. their legal battle in israeli courts has been going on for almost 30 years.

the family have to prove to the court that they have the right to stay in the house members of their family have lived in since 1959.

the biblical city ofjerusalem, ca ptu red the biblical city ofjerusalem, captured by king david over 3000 yea rs captured by king david over 3000 years ago, is here according to an organisation known as elad. hello everybody and welcome to jerusalem once again. the city of david. it is amazing to have you back with us. my name is jerome stillman. amazing to have you back with us. my name isjerome stillman. i am the director of global communications in the city of david. you can imagine we're climbing underneath ancient jerusalem right now. elad is short for to the city of david. it is an organisation whose stated mission is to strengthen the jewish organisation whose stated mission is to strengthen thejewish to jerusalem. when i came here and spoke with local residents, both arab and jewish and other people here i realise that this was the sight of king david, he is known by different names in hebrew, english and islam, and that this is an incredible opportunity fell form of a billion people around the world to connect the original site of the city of david. but i heard that story of my own career in high—tech and have dedicated my life to this area. to

the millions who have visited the city of david, a elad presents itself as an archaeological organisation focused on telling the story of the city ofjerusalem. our mission is to really reveal that and bring that to be explored by the world and experience by the world. do you know that 3000 years ago, the same view we're seeing right now king david self. he could get up every morning with his coffee, walk out to the porch, and c had this beautiful scenery. david, king david from the by bay, he went under the walls and overtook this. took it for the first time for the jewish community is that is pretty cool. —— from the bible. but there is a debate about some of the claims made about the city of david and historical fact. about the city of david and historicalfact. archaeological about the city of david and historical fact. archaeological digs in occupied territory are governed by international laws. israel could

be breaking international law by allowing archaeological digs to be carried out in archaeological or this area. elad says it is necessary to carry out the work to protect jewish cultural heritage. elad has been criticised for the less advertise part of the mission, strengthening thejewish connection tojerusalem by strengthening thejewish connection to jerusalem byjewish settlement. the united states condemns the occupation earth residential buildings in the palestinian area of sirwan in eastjerusalem. an agenda which by definition stoked tensions between palestinians and israelis. they speak own language. this man spent over a decade working at a senior level in elad as their marketing director. he helps the

city of david make it into all the top guidebooks. he witnessed first—hand the rapid rise of elad. he even wrote a phd about them, so knows the organisation inside out. from then launch in 1986 to 2005, he says that settling jewish families in so one was elad's main activity. in 2005, he says, they change their strategy.

2005 was a game changing year the elad. big money started pouring in via offshore companies based in the british virgin islands. it is made up british virgin islands. it is made up 65% of the total funds donated that year. elad did not comment on whether tourism was a way to enable morejewish whether tourism was a way to enable more jewish settlement whether tourism was a way to enable morejewish settlement in the area. in1967, during morejewish settlement in the area. in 1967, during the six day war, israel occupied the west bank and eastjerusalem. very soon after the war, israel extended israeli law to the area of eastjerusalem, i did

1980, the israeli government move to formally bring the whole of jerusalem and its holy site under its control. there are 220,000 jewish settlers in eastjerusalem, living among at least 3a1,000 palestinians. under international law, the area is considered to be occupied territory, and the settle m e nts occupied territory, and the settlements are deemed illegal. israel does not accept this view and neither does the trump administration. this woman has been opposing settlements for years as pa rt opposing settlements for years as part of the organisation piece now. -- a. —— a. peace now.

this family live right next door to elad's city of david. they even share offence. this woman is at their home for a conference call with pro—palestinian activists ahead of the family's next quarter period.

this house was claimed by the state of israel under the controversial absentee law in 1987. this low if the government the right to seize the government the right to seize the property of palestinians who have fled or were expelled during times of conflict. in 1991, the israeli government then sold the house to a subsidiary of thejewish nationalfund. house to a subsidiary of thejewish national fund. 0ne house to a subsidiary of thejewish national fund. one of the g and f's stated objectives is to buy and develop land on behalf of thejewish

people. with funding and support from ngos and the palestinian authority, the family have been fighting to keep the home ever since. we asked elad if they had any pa rt since. we asked elad if they had any part to play in this case. while the new legal case of the home is being carried out by... , it is obviously willingly interest to us because it is directly located within a few feet of our visitor centre. but since that interview, bbc news arabic has obtained new evidence which suggests elad has more thanjust evidence which suggests elad has more than just an interest. another 2020, they submitted a letter to court that the founder of elad sent them back in 1991. he listed various land plots in silwan including that of the house and writes that...

asked by the bbc whether they were still funding the case, elad did not respond. and neither did... .

0ver over the years, the total number of visitors to a lad's city of david has increased dramatically, and some never left. there has also been a gradual but steady growth in the number ofjewish gradual but steady growth in the number of jewish settlers who gradual but steady growth in the number ofjewish settlers who have been settled by elad in silwan. all this growth has cost a lot of money, and elad relies heavily on donations to fund its work. elad does list

many donors that are easy to identify, both individuals and organisations. but nearly half of elad's donations between 2005 and 2018 came from just four bvi based companies. the ones on the screen. they were all registered on the same day in the british virgin islands. the way these companies are structured makes it impossible for the public to know who's behind them. the names of these four companies also appear in a set of bank documents leaked to buzzfeed news. they shared them with the international consortium of investigative journalists and international consortium of investigativejournalists and the bbc. in the documents, banks report information about financial transactions and ownership of companies. the name roman abramovich appears again and again. he is named as the ultimate beneficial owner of three companies and controls the

fourth. those companies have donated more than $100 million to elad between 2005 and 2018. that makes roman abramovich the simple biggest onus of the secular organisation. the donations from his companies, which started in 2005, have enabled elad to become the organisation they are today. in 2007, these companies we re are today. in 2007, these companies were responsible for almost 90% of elad's donations. in that year, the majority of donations were used to fund various projects of development and settlement in the city of david. in some cases, settlement means the eviction of a palestinian family. elad has told the bbc that they abide by the laws and regulations that israel set for a nonprofit organisations, including in terms of transparency requirements, and on

the question of whether roman abramovich is a donor to elad, they say... it is our policy to respect the privacy of our donors. 0ne say... it is our policy to respect the privacy of our donors. one can very easily walk around the city of david and of the donors who have decided to put their names there. this man has been the family's layout for ten years. —— lawyer for ten years.

this case is not unique. elad has been linked to numerous evictions, and donations to elad have enabled them to expand their footprint in silwan. according to peace now‘s research, elad owns and runs to his sights on this land and has settled jewish families in these houses. the israeli government permits and

supports elad's work, both the settling and the digging. in 2016, the un to security council deemed settle m e nt the un to security council deemed settlement activity in occupied east jerusalem a flagrant violation of international law by israel but jerusalem, israel disputes this and say they do not consider east jerusalem to be occupied territory. 0r international law has many different views and factors. there are many nations who in fact support israeli sovereignty over this area. 0nly israeli sovereignty over this area. only the united states, guatemala and honduras recognise as a over the entire city ofjerusalem. roman abramovich is a private man. it has been hard to find people to speak publicly about into the bbc. he is known for his private giving. a spokesman for him told the bbc...

but until now, mr abramovich has never been officially associated with any donations to elad. though meant... co—wrote a book about the impact of a million russian migrants moving to israel. in 2018, mr abramovich was granted citizenship in israel afterfacing long delays to his uk visa

application. later that day, the maktoum family

learned that they had lost their appeal. they were given six weeks to leave their home. —— the mac to family. elad did not respond to questions about ownership of houses and historic city of david, they say that all of their property in this area has been obtained fairly and legally under israeli law. the city of david is a project that involves also the revitalisation of life in jerusalem. we believe that both dues and arabs, christians, muslims, everybody under israeli law is entitled to buy homes here. no palestinian has ever been removed from their home in the city of david without due process, without the court, but about them being able to present their case on the other

side. elad's strategy seems to be working. for many in israel and around the world, silwan has become the city of david. as elad has established itself, israeli government support and income from ticket sales has risen, and donations from abramovich we re risen, and donations from abramovich were overtaken by donations from us —based friends as he had envied into 2011. i can think of no better place than the city of david to express

that the united states knows what the jewish people have known for 3000 years, that jerusalem the jewish people have known for 3000 years, thatjerusalem is the historic capital of israel. beat trump administration's recognition ofjerusalem as the capital of israel exacerbated widespread protests in gaza and beyond. 58 palestinians were reported killed by israeli forces and over 2000 injured that day of the embassy opening alone. us ambassador to israel david friedman is a strong supporter of israeli settlements. he has taken pa rt israeli settlements. he has taken part in an opening ceremony at the city of david. and in 2021 president trump announced his peace plan brokered by his son—in—law it named many of elad's sites is historical 01’ many of elad's sites is historical or spiritual places in need of protection, all of which are in occupied territory. byzantine,

roman, muslim, jewish, christian, palestinian, jordanian, israeli. silwan's story is complicated. but within 30 years, with the support of israel's richest man, elad has managed to shift the narrative to their version of the story. hello. the best of the weather today has been across the western side

of the uk in the sunshine, but there's certainly a chill in the airfor all of us, thanks to this nagging northerly wind, strongest for the eastern side of the uk, closer to that area of low pressure. that brought a month's worth of rain across parts of east anglia yesterday, and it's been dragging in some strong winds today, and a rather gloomy scene here along the coast in suffolk, and really cold, as well. there's been a lot of cloud recently across the eastern side of england, keeping those temperatures down, and the cloud has been bringing some outbreaks of rain and drizzle. that's tending to move its way towards the south—east by this evening. still quite windy along those north sea coasts of england. winds gusting a0 mph or more. gradually, the winds will ease down a bit overnight, but we will keep a lot of cloud for eastern england and it's probably going to turn dry, although rain's not far away. further west, lighter winds, clearer skies, means it will be quite a bit colder, and there may be a touch of frost again in central scotland and southern parts of northern ireland. but much milder for eastern england thanks to that shield of cloud overnight. but it does look quite cloudy again

for eastern england on sunday, although a good deal drier. further west and across the uk, we can look forward to more sunshine after that chilly start. the winds won't be as strong, either. and they are easing down through the day across east anglia and the south—east of england, but in the morning in particular, again, we could see gusts of around a0 mph. with winds easing a bit to the afternoon, though, it won't feel quite as chilly. we could get temperatures of 16 or so in london. higher temperatures further west into wales, 18 in cardiff and swansea. as we move into monday, we lose that northerly wind and instead we get atlantic winds, but that means more unsettled weather, some bands of rain coming in from the atlantic. and we may still start the day across east anglia and the south—east with some cloud, the odd spot of rain, that should eventually push away as we get our main band of cloud and patchy rain heading its way into more western areas of the uk. in between, a slice of some sunshine and without those northerly winds, temperatures in most places will be

a bit higher. could be up to around 17 or more in hull and norwich, much milder than it has been over the weekend. temperatures nearer normal, i think, on monday, perhaps into tuesday, as well, but as we move wednesday through the rest of the week, temperatures do drop again because it turns more unsettled with wind and rain.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the headlines at six. a quarter of the uk population will be under extra lockdown rules as new measures come into force across parts of northern england and wales over the weekend. it comes as 1,700 students in manchester are told to stay in their halls of residence for two weeks after a spike in coronavirus cases. the department of health say they're working to fix a problem with the nhs test and trace app in england and wales after some users were unable to input negative test results. tributes are paid to a popular and talented police officer killed at a custody centre in south london. sergeant matt ratana was shot, as a suspect in handcuffs was being booked in.