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.
Health and Health Care Samah Jabr

A psychiatrist, writer, and public intellectual whose work emphasizes collective trauma, resilience, human rights, and dignity

Who Are the Palestinians of Jerusalem? Amin al-Khatib

A beloved doctor who served his city and his people, especially those in need, for seven decades

Health and Health Care Tawfiq Canaan

An epidemiologist, ethnographer, and institution builder who made foundational contributions to medicine and health care in Jerusalem and Palestine

Find alphabetically by first letter of last name

Culture, Art, and Heritage Jamal Badran

One of Palestine’s foremost visual artists, sculptors, and calligraphers who also the restored al-Aqsa Mosque’s precious Islamic art after an arson

Culture, Art, and Heritage Khalil Beidas

An influential scholar, educator, journalist, and author and a prolific translator of Russian literature into Arabic

Culture, Art, and Heritage Nahil Bishara

One of the few female artists who depicted Jerusalem in the mid-20th century

Culture, Art, and Heritage Issa Boullata

An accomplished scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies and award-winning translator who traced his creative talent to his Jerusalem childhood

Culture, Art, and Heritage 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