Bios

Palestinian Jerusalemites have made myriad and diverse contributions to their city’s history and community fabric. Here we profile some of those people—past and present; famous and obscure—whose lives and work and stories have helped shape the larger Jerusalem Story over time.
Mahmoud Shukair

A prolific novelist who was exiled from Jerusalem for almost two decades, yet says “Jerusalem is a part of me and I am part of Jerusalem.”

Zahiya Nashashibi

A Jerusalemite who helped to found one of the oldest women’s movements in Palestine in 1929, and remained in a leadership role in it until her death

Find alphabetically by first letter of last name

Kamal Boullata

A renowned Jerusalemite artist and art historian who was exiled in 1967 and spent the rest of his life creating art that would convey, and lead him back to, the city of his birth

Fatima Budeiri

An Arabic-language teacher and media personality who became the first Palestinian woman to work as a radio broadcaster