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.
Shireen Abu Akleh

A venerated Palestinian journalist who reported from the field in the occupied territories for a quarter of a century until she was murdered while on assignment.

Salma Khadra Jayyusi

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

Aida Najjar

An influential women’s activist, writer, and researcher from Lifta who documented life in Jerusalem and the history of the Palestinian press before 1948

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