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.
Tawfiq Canaan

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

Salvador ‘Arnita

A leading Jerusalemite musician and composer whose output in Palestine and Lebanon includes at least 200 compositions—symphonies, concerts, orchestra works, and anthems

Husni al-Ashhab

A notable Palestinian educator who worked tirelessly to preserve the Arab curriculum in East Jerusalem after 1967

Find alphabetically by first letter of last name

Amin Majaj

A Palestinian physician and public servant who was the “father of pediatrics in Jerusalem”

The West Side Story Betty Dagher Majaj

A nurse from Lebanon who married a Jerusalemite and moved to the city right before the Nakba and embraced the responsibilities thrust upon her for caring for the sick, wounded, and disabled of the city over decades