Jerusalem Story - The City Retold

Featured Topics

Who Are the Palestinians of Jerusalem?

Palestinians comprise nearly half the population of Jerusalem and have built, and shaped, the city for centuries, yet their stories are rarely told.

View more
Land

In Jerusalem as in the rest of the country, land is the locus of the struggle for control. Here we explore the status of land in Jerusalem and its environs.

View more
Closure and Access to Jerusalem

Jerusalem is known as an open, international, “city of peace.” For millions of Palestinians, however, it is a closed, virtually unreachable, city.

View more
The Separation Wall

Israel's Separation Wall, called al-jidar by Palestinians, has drastically reshaped the geopolitical fabric of Jerusalem.

View more
  • Highlights
  • Recent
  • Trending
Blog Post An “Ecumenical” Friendship in Mandate Palestine, Ruptured by Politics

A fascinating biographical account of an intimate interfaith friendship among five young adults in Mandate Palestine. A book review.

Photo Essay King David Hotel, a Focal Point in British Mandate Jerusalem Whose Bombing Was a Watershed Moment

For Palestinian Jerusalemites, the city’s first luxury hotel will always be linked to a terrorist act that signaled the end of their lives in Jerusalem.

Photo Essay The YMCA: A Cherished Social Hub during the Mandate Years

The Jerusalem YMCA was the social, athletic, and cultural hub for Jerusalemites during the British Mandate years.

Neighborhoods beyond the Wall
Video Kufr ‘Aqab: A Neighborhood in Jerusalem

What happens when a city walls off a densely populated neighborhood and then abandons it?

Interview Suhad Bishara: “Water Consumes the Minds of Everyone in Kufr ‘Aqab 24 Hours, 7 Days a Week”

What’s up with water in Kufr ‘Aqab? A conversation with Adalah’s legal director, Suhad Bishara, on the case they filed on residents’ behalf.

Video Love under Occupation

A fictional couple plays out how Israel’s new regulations for foreigners wishing to visit the West Bank will seep into their private lives. 

Graphic Banned from Entry: How Israel Blacklists Half a Million PA ID Holders, Blocking Them from Entering Jerusalem

The black hole of blacklisting: How Palestinians with PA IDs get wholly banned from Jerusalem with one click on the keyboard

Personal Story Sitti’s Story

An innocent question posed in good faith changes a family’s legal status and that of all its descendants.

Case Study The Fragmentation of Jerusalem’s Eastern Palestinian Towns

Jerusalem’s eastern Palestinian towns, including al-‘Izariyya and Abu Dis, have been completely separated from one another and from Jerusalem by the Separation Wall.

The Separation Wall
Video Everything Is Forbidden

What happens when the state all but decrees that life itself is not permitted? This is the situation that Palestinian residents of al-Nabi Samwil find themselves in.

Blog Post From a Traumatized Teen to a Trauma Healer and Yogi: Ashira Ramadan’s Story

Traumatized and paralyzed as a teenager, an intrepid journalist found healing through holistic medicine and yoga.

Blog Post Hakawati Husam Abu Eisheh: “The Heaviness of Jerusalem Makes Us Who We Are”

Palestinian storyteller Husam Abu Eisheh has dedicated his talents to creating theater in Jerusalem for decades, using humor as resistance. 

Blog Post Jerusalem the Spectral and Fantastical: In Conversation with Ahmad Nabil

Sharing legends and paranormal activities may be crucial for preserving the collective memory of Jerusalem.