• Website: http://www.ir-amim.org.il/
  • Based in Jerusalem.
  • Ir Amim’s activities include “Monitoring and exposing critical developments in Jerusalem,” “legal advocacy,” “policy advocacy,” and running highly politicized “tours ” of Jerusalem and the separation barrier.
  • Although it has been described as “work[ing] toward coexistence in Jerusalem,” an Ir Amim official said that the group was “seeking to advance a political agenda, and was not an organization geared to promote coexistence.”
  • Ir Amim promotes the Palestinian narrative on Jerusalem, including claims that “government powers are being handed over to the settler organizations” and “archeological digs have become an important tool in the fight for control of [the area around the Old City].”
  • Ir Amim minimizes the security threat to Israel, for instance on the Shuafat Refugee camp – “With respect to security, Shuafat RC is an overcrowded and impoverished Palestinian ‘ghetto’ in the heart of Jerusalem whose inhabitants defy Israeli control; it is thus perceived as a potential security threat by Israeli authorities (despite the fact that the camp has never been a source of major security problems)” – and refers to the security barrier around the camp as a “Demographic Wall.”
  • Funders include the Ford Foundation, the EU, New Israel Fund, Moriah Fund, Open Society Institute, Norway, the British Embassy, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands . Government funding constituted about 67% of the total budget (~ 4 million NIS) in 2007.

Ir Amim Essentials: