Deir Yasin

Blog Post Lessons of Our Elders: What They Lost When They Lost Jerusalem

What do Jerusalemites who were forced to leave their homes in 1948 tell their descendants about the place they lost?

A snapshot from the documentary produced by Dar Al Tifel Al Araby of an indoor class
Video Dar Al Tifel Al Arabi Institution—A Documentary

Dar Al Tifel Al Arabi, founded in 1948 by Hind al-Husseini, embodies resilience and dedication to preserving Jerusalem’s Arab and Jerusalemite identity.

Backgrounder The West Side Story, Part 3: From Bourgeois Comfort to Untenable Peril: The Emptying of the New City

How the New City came to an abrupt and violent end

Backgrounder The West Side Story, Part 2: The Darkening Horizon: Jerusalem’s New City under the British Mandate

In the face of rising Jewish immigration, Jewish self-separation, and the looming end of the British Mandate, Jerusalem began to implode, placing the New City in peril.

Personal Story A War without Chocolate

Betty Majaj, a nurse in Jerusalem, lived through the demise of the New City and its reincarnation into West Jerusalem. This is her story. 

Personal Story “It’s Not My Village Any More”

A survivor of the Deir Yasin massacre tells her haunting story.

Personal Story “Until This Day, We Don’t Know Where They Buried Them”

A survivor of the Deir Yasin massacre recalls that dark day, its cost for his family, and its aftermath. 

Video Deir Yassin Village and Massacre

A firsthand recounting and reconstruction of a landmark trauma in Palestinian and Jerusalem history, the Deir Yassin massacre of April 9, 1948

Personal Story The Baq‘a Zone Ghetto: A Memoir of a Palestinian Jerusalemite Who Remained in West Jerusalem after the War

Jacob Nammar, whose family established the al-Nammamreh neighborhood in al-Baq‘a, shares the trauma his family went through in what became West Jerusalem.