Nakba

Photo Essay The Said Family of Jerusalem: Denied Return to Their Home in Talbiyya, Perpetual Trauma in Exile

One Jerusalem family’s story: the Nakba and its aftermath

Jerusalemite siblings Teddy and Nadia Theodorie in the library in their Bethlehem home
Video On a Winter’s Night

While looking at family photos, siblings Teddy and Nadia Theodorie recall their displacement from Talbiyya in 1948.

Blog Post Born in Jerusalem, Born Palestinian: A Memoir

A Palestinian who remained in West Jerusalem in 1948 recalls life there before and after the war. A book review.

Screenshot from the YouTube video, “What’s The Story? Yacoub Ahmad Odeh in Lifta”
Video What’s the Story? Yacoub Ahmad Odeh in Lifta

“We lived here like kings”: Yacoub Ahmad Odeh fights Israeli plans to turn the depopulated village of Lifta into a new Jewish settlement.

Journal Article Remembering Lifta: One Family’s Experience of Repeated Displacements, Imprisonment, and Resilience

A woman recalls her family leaving Lifta in 1948 in search of safety. But there was none to be had.

Michel Hamarneh, born in Jerusalem in 1935, a character in the film My Jerusalem: Testimonial to life in Jerusalem before 1948 by Lubna Dajani
Video My Jerusalem: Testimonial to Life in Jerusalem before 1948

Jerusalemites born in the 1920s and 1930s recount their memories of growing up in Jerusalem and what they lost when they were forced to leave in 1948.

Personal Story Falling Leaves Turn Back to Their Roots

The author reflects on growing up in al-Baq‘a during the British Mandate and her family’s experience of the Nakba.

Photo The Battle for Jerusalem, 1948

A moment showing the Arab defense of Jerusalem, 1948

An old Palestinian man walks toward the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to pray, May 1967 (UNRWA footage).
Video Al-Quds (Arab Jerusalem)

This documentary depicts life in Arab Jerusalem before the 1967 War and captures Palestinians’ sense of loss in its aftermath.