“The staring eyes say to people that we see them and they should see us too…we want to say that we are here — we love our land and our home.”

- Jawad Siyam, Director of Madaa-Silwan Creative Center

I WITNESS SILWAN

Public Art, Tourism, and International Solidarity in Occupied East Jerusalem

Madaa-Silwan Creative Center & US-based Art Forces

I Witness Silwan is an international public art project in support of Silwan’s longstanding fight against dispossession. Murals depicting the eyes of local and international leaders, activists, workers, and more, are scattered across the hills of Silwan, East Jerusalem and can be seen from miles away.

Virtual Delegation to Batn al-Hawa

Facing the Old City, the eyes look directly at tourist sites, which continue to expand. 80% of homes in Silwan, and other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, have received eviction notices. Thousands of Palestinians have already been dispossessed. Click here to see the murals in Wadi Hilwa. — Facing the Old City, the eyes look directly at tourist sites, which continue to expand. 80% of homes in Silwan, and other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, have received eviction notices. Thousands of Palestinians have already been dispossessed. Click ***here*** to see the murals in Wadi Hilweh.

Virtual Delegation to Wadi Hilweh

Welcome

Hamed Mousa

Eyes of Hamed Moussa, vinyl print.

Image by Palestinian-American artist John Halaka, and is part of his photo exhibition, Faces from Erased Places.

Hamed Moussa (circa 1909-2013) was a farmer from Dayr El Assad, a village in the Akka district of Palestine

Photo by Kobi Wolf for Art Forces

Photo by Leora Rosner

Che Guevara

Eyes of Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna, vinyl print.

Che played an instrumental role in the 1959 Cuban Revolution and spearheaded monumental social initiatives such as the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign. Che made a historic visit to Gaza in 1959 — a first sign that the settler-colonization of Palestine was not just a localized issue but rather part of a global struggle for liberation and repatriation.

Read about Che’s visit to Gaza in 1959.

Learn more about Che's life and legacy.

Photo: Kobi Wolf for Art Forces — Photo by Kobi Wolf for Art Forces

Rachel Corrie

Eyes of Rachel Corrie, vinyl print with acrylic.

Rachel Corrie was a student from Olympia, Washington who was killed in 2003 by the Israeli Occupying Army during an act of civil disobedience in Gaza. She was in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement and was run over twice by an American-built D9 bulldozer, as she tried to prevent it from destroying the home of a Palestinian family.

Image by Denny Sternstein.

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice.

Alex Nieto

Eyes of Alex Nieto, vinyl print.

Image by Salvadoran born-American citizen Josué Rojas.

Alex Nieto, an American citizen, was killed by police officers in San Francisco, California in 2014.

“Nieto died because a series of white men saw him as a menacing intruder in the place he had spent his whole life.”

— Rebecca Solnit

Sigmund Freud

Eyes of Sigmund Freud, vinyl print with acrylic.

Sigmund Freud, the Austrian-Jewish founder of psychoanalysis, wrote in his last work, Moses, and Monotheism (1939), about grappling with the origins of Jewish identity. Edward Said, also in his last work, Freud and the Non-European (2003), elaborates on a vision of identity that is never whole or fixed, but contains foreign elements at its core. Said writes, “The complex layers of the past . . . have been eliminated by Israel.”

Review of Said's "Freud and the Non-European".

George Floyd

Eyes of George Floyd, banner with acrylic.

George Perry Floyd Jr. was a Black man killed by Derek Chauvin, a police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

Photo by Jenan Maswadeh

John Berger

Eyes of John Berger, vinyl print with acrylic.

John Berger was an art critic, painter, and writer. His writing has shaped how many individuals see, analyze and try to remake their world.

Berger wrote frequently about Palestine in his late work.

Berger reads Ghassan Kanafani's "Letter from Gaza".

Silwan Community Member — Nihad Siyam

Eyes of Silwan Community Member, acrylic on concrete.

Painted above the Madaa Creative Center of Batn al-Hawa.

Bai Bibiyaon Ligkayan Bigkay (left) & Silwan Community Member (right)

Left: Bai Bibiyaon Ligkayan Bigkay, vinyl print with acrylic.

Image by Cece Carpio.

Bai Bibiyaon Ligkayan Bigkay is a Lumad leader and Talaingod woman-chieftain in the Philippines. She is an organizer, leading her tribe in defense of ancestral lands.

Learn more about Ligkayan Bigkay and her work.

Right: Eyes of Silwan Community Member, acrylic on concrete.

The Nasser a-Rajabi Family Home

Eye of Umm Nasser

In 2017, the Nasser a-Rajabi family received eviction orders from the Ateret Cohanim settler organization, which is backed by Israeli authorities. The Nasser a-Rajabi family is one of many in East Jerusalem fighting against imminent expulsion.

Um Nasser paints her home. Photo: Laura Rosman — Umm Nasser paints her home.

Um Nasser’s grandson, age 6, assists in painting his family’s home. Photo: Laura Rosman — *Umm Nasser’s grandson, age 6, assists in painting his family’s home.*

We Will Remain

Sister mural spearheaded by the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Resistance Arts committee, I Witness Silwan, Art Forces, and Madaa-Silwan Creative Center was recently painted in both the Mission District of San Francisco California.

Photo by Jenan Maswadeh for Art Forces

Eyes Iyad el Halak.jpeg — **Eyad al-Halak**

Eyad was murdered at Lion’s Gate checkpoint in the Old City by border police on May 30, 2020. Eyad and his teacher had been walking to Elwyn El-Quds center, which provides services for children and adults with disabilities.

Eyes of Zuhri Shweiki

Zuhri Shweiki was killed by the Israeli forces at the beginning of the First Intifada (Palestinian uprising) in 1989. He was shot in the head in Bir-Ayoub, a neighborhood of his home Silwan, which was immediately fatal.

Eyes of Nizar Shweiki

About Nizar

Photos by Afif Hanna Amireh

About Muhammed

Photos by Afif Hanna Amireh

Eyes of Muhammed Fataftah

Youth Freedom (hurriyyah) Mural in Batin Al Hawa

Photos by Afif Hanna Amireh

Eyes of Ghassan Kanafani

Ghassan Kanafani was born in Acre (Akka) in 1936 during the British Mandate occupation of Palestine. He was a prominent Palestinian intellectual, novelist, playwright, and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. On 8 July 1972, he was assassinated by Mossad in Lebanon.

In many of his fictions, he portrays the complex dilemmas Palestinians of various backgrounds face under Israeli occupation. His books have been banned for periods of time by the occupation.

Designed by Chris Gazaleh

Photos by Afif Hanna Amireh

Murals of Al Rajabi house

This mural was painted outside the house of Zuheir Al Rajabi. Mr. Rajabi-the head of the Batan al Hawa committee and director of Madaa Creative Center Batan al Hawa branch- has received an eviction order from the settler group Atarot Cohanim. The Rajabi family continues to fight eviction orders and to help the community to resist.

Photos: Afif Amireh

Olive Tree, Finches & Anemones

Olive Tree, Finches & Anemones, vinyl prints and acrylic on stucco.

Olive tree with finches (national bird of Palestine) and anemones (national flower of Palestine).

Learn about international support for Palestinian olive groves.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life, acrylic.

Sitting across from the local mosque, the mural is a symbol of faith and foundation — of amal, hope.

Photos: Afif Amireh

Wide View of Main Street

Featuring the front of Um Nasser’s house painted by the youth of Batan al Hawa, with Leora Rozner of Art Forces.

Photo: Kobi Wolf for Art Forces

Palestinian Flower - The Anemone

As one of the national symbols of Palestine, the National flower of Palestine was painted next to *Eyes of Silwan Community Member* Mural.

Photo by Manar Shreiteh for Art Forces

Palestine Flower Eyes

Anemone, “shaqayiq al-numan,” is across the countryside of Palestine, symbolizing the approach of spring. The flower is considered a part of Palestinian environmental and cultural heritage.

The anemone is a powerful motif for Palestine, as Palestinians link the color of the flower to that of the blood spilled of martyrs who perished at the hands of the occupation. It is seen as a sign of those who died in the conflict that has raged on for decades.

We painted two large anemones with eyes in their centers to re-emphasize that the people of Silwan gaze back at the occupation, and to those who are complicit in the occupation’s activities.

Photos by Jenan Maswadeh for Art Forces

Bird for Liberation

Liberation Bird Mural at

Madaa Creative Center, Batn al-Hawa

Mural at Madaa Creative Center, Batn al-Hawa

Under the Sea

We painted this mural at the Madaa Creative Center in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood in Silwan. We wanted to paint a mural that looks fun for the kids. We enjoyed listening to the kids guessing the aquatic animals we were painting!

Spring Blossom

A Bright Day Out

Painted at the entrance to the house of Abu Seif in Batn al-Hawa. Abu Seif asked the I Witness Silwan team to paint his front door entrance to make his sister happy, who is most of the time at home due to her health condition, whenever she comes out of the house or looks out of the window.

Our Youth, Our Future

Painted by the Palestinian-American artist Chris Gazaleh on the wall of a school in the neighborhood of Batn al-Hawa, Silwan.

“One of the aspects of Palestinian identity which gives me a certain hope is the indestructible power of the people’s imagination. The ability to hold onto what is sacred. This spiritual, cultural/ancestral knowledge is what I wanted to represent on this mural in the form of a sunflower, a symbol of resistance. The knowledge passed down through generations which grows into a community's identity, this knowledge is what brings me hope.” (Gazaleh, 2022)

Photo by Afif Hanna Amireh

Victory Mural

“… but like the stones that keep people’s homes standing, the people still stand solid against the test of time and against the occupation. This means victory to me, any group of humans in the world who continue to stand up and choose dignity, regardless of what they are up against, is choosing a path that leads to victory.” (Ghazaleh 2022)

Painted by the Palestinian-American artist Chris Ghazaleh

Gifts from the Sun

Gifts from the Sun

“I wanted to represent the colors I saw every day walking through the streets and I was gifted this wall by the community to create something, this is what I felt the wall could use.” (Ghazala)

Painted by Palestinian - American artist Chris Ghazala, I Witness Silwan team, and the Youth of Wadi Hilweh neighborhood - Silwan.

Wadi Hilweh Murals

We enjoyed being back in Wadi Hilweh neighborhood where I Witness Silwan project started in 2015. These murals were originally painted in 2015 in collaboration with Madaa Creative Center - Wadi Hilweh branch. I Witness Silwan team came back in 2022 to repair some of the old murals and paint new ones with the help of Wadi Hilweh kids and women.