Personal Story

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.

Personal Story The Hammoudi Family and the Loss of a Jerusalem Home: One Family’s Multigenerational Longing

The pain of collective trauma as experienced by successive generations: A Jerusalem family’s story.

Personal Story Reflections of a Returning Daughter of Jerusalem

The author returns to Shu‘fat to live in her ancestral home and finds happiness despite the emotional stress of living in a settler-colonial state.

Personal Story On Wings of Memory: Schmidt’s Girls School—Jerusalem’s Star School

The author recalls her happy years attending Schmidt’s School, before the Nakba, her brief visit years later, and what it meant to her. 

Personal Story Issa Boullata and the Childhood Memories of Jerusalem That Never Faded

An acclaimed academic, writer, and translator recalls his Old City childhood

 

Personal Story Ibrahim and His Family: “Lucky” to Be Living in a Collapsing Building to Remain in Jerusalem

Ibrahim and his family have no choice but to keep living in a collapsing building in Bir ‘Awna to afford rent and keep their Jerusalem residency permits.

Personal Story The Mukhtar and I: A Day with My Grandfather in the Old City

A Palestinian in exile remembers Jerusalem’s Old City—the sights and sounds, the tight-knit community—during his last days with his formidable grandfather, the Mukhtar.

Personal Story “These Are Our Homes”: Visiting West Jerusalem’s Neighborhoods with Mounir Kleibo

Mounir Kleibo, former ILO Special Representative, tells the story of his mother’s family home in Lower Baq‘a in today’s West Jerusalem.

Personal Story “These Are Our Homes”: Visiting West Jerusalem’s Neighborhoods with Huda Imam

Huda Imam is banned from entering the home her father built in Qatamon before 1948, but that does not stop her from standing outside it weekly.