Details: Participants in this Virtual Delegation will see the ways in which Palestinians in Silwan, East Jerusalem, specifically in the neighborhoods of Wadi Hilweh and Batn al Hawa, are resisting Israeli occupation and displacement. In Silwan, Israel and its tourist and archeology industries claim that bible stories and historic Jewish geographies are linked to the modern Israeli state. This controversial reading of archeology and history supports the illusion that Jerusalem has an exclusively Jewish history and that therefore only Jews are entitled to the city.
Points of interest include: the City of David Tourist Complex: One of Israel's busiest tourist attractions with over one million visitors a year; excavation sites; the Silwan Pools; community organizations Wadi Hilweh Information Center and Madaa Creative Center; multiple sites of an international public art project that looks the occupation in the eye, and many first-person narratives of life on the ground in Silwan, including Khalid Zir whose home has been demolished multiple times and has resorted to living for months in a cave with his family.
Sahar Abassi was born and raised in Silwan, East Jerusalem. She is the deputy director of Madaa Silwan Creative Center in Silwan, where she works with children who have been arrested and runs the women's programs.
Zuhier el Rajabi was born and raised in Silwan, East Jersalem. He is the head of the Batan al Hawa committee and directs the Madaa Creative Center Batan al Hawa branch. He has been arrested several times by the police, after settler group Atarot Cohanim ordered his family's eviction. The Rajabi family continues to fight eviction orders and to help his community to resist.
Register: https://secure.everyaction.com/PJNPkea3GEeB7sS4O0QF6A2 ($25)
Sponsored by: Eyewitness Palestine co-sponsored by Madaa Creative Center, Art Forces, and The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. Contact: info@eyewitnesspalestine.org
More about co-sponsors:
Madaa Creative Center, https://www.madaasilwan.org/
Art Forces https://artforces.org/
The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) http://box5190.temp.domains/~thepipdc/