Personal Story

Personal Story Living with the Ever-Present Threat of Expulsion

At 70, Samira was born in Silwan and has lived there ever since. Although Samira’s home is under threat of demolition, she is determined to fight to remain on her land.

Personal Story A Diaspora Jerusalemite Remembers

Philip Farah hasn’t lived in Jerusalem since 1978, but it remains “a huge part of my psyche.”

Personal Story Zakia Jabre Hajjar: “What I Had in Jerusalem Was Like a Treasure, a Precious Gift, and I Lost it”

A Palestinian Jerusalemite’s memories of growing up in Jerusalem before the Nakba, as shared with her daughter through letters in later years

Personal Story In Limbo on the Waiting List: The Life of a “Stay Permit” Spouse

The infinite indignities and humiliations of daily life for Palestinian spouses living in Jerusalem on Israeli military stay permits

Personal Story The Day of the Long Night

A Palestinian Jerusalemite remembers his childhood and its terrifying end in the New City neighborhood of Qatamon. An eyewitness testimony to the violent end of the New City.

Personal Story Zaid Abu Dalu: “Closure Has Many Faces”

A young man shares his lifetime of experience of dealing with Israel’s closure of Jerusalem and how it has impacted his entire life.

Personal Story The End of Arab Qatamon—A Memoir

A vivid memoir attesting to what it was like to live through the violent transformation of the New City of Jerusalem into West Jerusalem in 1947–48

Personal Story “We Are All Mikey”

A Palestinian Jerusalemite shares his experience leaving the country through Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.