The Madaa Silwan Creative Center is a community center in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, and serves 450 neighborhood children with education courses, playgrounds, and more. Children can take music lessons and use the library’s resources, and the women’s group has created a cookbook called The Palestinian Kitchen.The center and its sister organization, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, are projects of resistance to ongoing settler activity in the neighborhood. In 1986, settlement organizations, in conjunction with Israeli authorities, began the City of David project, an archaeological dig which has damaged many Palestinian homes and infrastructure. The settlers have a large private security force that is frequently violent towards the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood, including children.

For more information, visit the center’s website, and watch librarian Tala Serhan talk about her work there.