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.
Jumana El Husseini

A Jerusalem artist in exile whose predominant themes revolved around depicting the city of her birth

Samia Halaby

A pioneer of abstract painting whose art has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs throughout the world

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.”

Find alphabetically by first letter of last name

Wasif Jawhariyyeh

A musician and diarist who created an invaluable account of life in Jerusalem from the late Ottoman to the British Mandate periods

Bandali al-Jawzi

A Palestinian scholar, historian, professor, and linguist who made significant contributions and prolific translations into Arabic and articulated and reformulated Islamic principles in a revolutionary manner

Salma Khadra Jayyusi

A poet and anthologist who spearheaded a massive effort to make Arabic literature available to English-speaking readers

Nazmi Jubeh

A historian, archeologist, and expert on Palestinian cultural heritage and its preservation, with special expertise on Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron