We customize each tour based on the requests and interests of your group as well as the amount of time you have available in Silwan. Tours can include visits to both the Wadi Hilweh and Batn al-Hawa neighborhoods. Along the way you will visit various murals as well stops to better understand the impact of settlement expansion and Israeli tourism projects on Silwan.

I Witness Silwan muralists and Silwan community leader, Zuheir Rajibi lead our tours. Along the way, we will also stop at various houses, some under demolition orders and others belonging to community members directly impacted by settler expansion in Silwan. Tour members may meet member of these households or interact with other communities members along the way.

Our tours give participants the opportunity to learn more about I Witness Silwan’s work and the importance of our murals both to the community of Silwan and also as an international act to amplify voices of resistance and resilience. Learn about how these murals provide an outlet to community members facing unjust eviction and demolition orders and uplift motifs of Palestinian heritage and experience, such as paying homage to Palestinian martyrs, poets, activist, and the relationship to the land. We hope this tour encourages you not only to bear witness to the realities you see but also take action to change them.

We center our tours in an area that is undergoing ethnic cleansing, under the guise of ‘heritage’ tourism by Israeli institutions like the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority and right-wing Zionist settler organizations such as Ateret Cohanim and Elad. These organizations are registered as ‘non-profits’ and receive much of their funding from supporters in the USA. With the full backing of the state, Jerusalem Municipality and Civil Administration, these so-called non-profits have built major tourist centers like “Ir David”, meaning “City of David”, on Palestinian land in a neighborhood known by locals as Wadi Hilweh. Israel and its Nature and Parks Authority has renamed Silwan the City of David and receives more than one million tourists a year. Our tours are helping create alternative tourism opportunities!

All of our tours include Arabic and English speaking guides. Our guides are also provide translation between English and Arabic to ensure everyone on a tour with I Witness Silwan has the most accurate information.

Many groups choose to join us for a meal at the end of the tour. This creates a special opportunity to get to know the community and artist better, enjoy a home cooked meal, and continue to ask questions about the tour itself.