The Jerusalem Blues

A Portrait of the City

I had arrived early for my daily walk with my friend Abed. I took a seat on the stairway leading to Damascus Gate and whiled away the time watching the hubbub below...

Challenging Unlawful Israeli Policies and Practices in East Jerusalem at the International Criminal Court

By: Mona Sabella

Since the 1970s, Jerusalem has, for the most part, been shelved as a final-status agenda item in negotiations on the Palestinian state. Fast forward to 2015: the number of Israeli settlers...

Community Resilience and Development Programme

Under the leadership of the State of Palestine, the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) is managing the first development program of its kind for Area C and East Jerusalem...

Al Quds University Public Library

By: Omar N. Zaro

Since 1967 not one Palestinian public library has been established in Jerusalem. However, there are many private library initiatives alongside school and university libraries, and there are at least four specialized private libraries that are not open to the public...

Renewable Energy in Jerusalem

A Dream of Resilience and Development

By: Jamil Koussa

Over the past years, organizations in East Jerusalem have been resilient against existing challenges. Their main concern was to maintain their existence and contribute to providing quality services to Palestinians...

Hopes and Challenges

By: Abdalqader Husseini

Is it possible for us to become a research-based society? To answer this question, my memories take me back to the year 2003. In that year, we set a goal to develop schools in Jerusalem. Our dream was to help...

Demoralization and Resistance

Israel’s Unseen Policy and Jerusalem’s Refusal to Abandon Its Collective Identity

By: Megan Driscoll

Though never far out of sight, Jerusalem was notably at the center of much of the world’s focus this year, as tensions mounted throughout the occupied city...

Jerusalem

The Longing for Freedom

By: Jad Isaac and Suhail Khalilieh

Jerusalem – the city that witnessed the rise and fall of empires – represents religious interest for more than 3.5 billion people, more than 54 percent of the world’s population. It has a long and bloody history...

A tribute to Maha Abu Dayyeh

When Maha Abu Dayyeh passed away on January 9, my brother and I lost a loving mother, many lost a loyal friend, and Palestine lost a visionary, humble, and relentless advocate. A native of Jerusalem and Beit Jala...

MIFTAH

Amplifies the Voice of Jerusalemites

By: Courtesy of MIFTAH

In 1998, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, MIFTAH was “born” in Jerusalem. Since then, it has carried its message within and beyond the city through its activities with the various...

Jerusalem and the Private Sector

Productive Contributions and Greater Needs

By: Courtesy of Bank of Palestine

For the past fifty years, Jerusalem has been suffering from the Israeli occupation. The situation has worsened during the past few years due to the increased Israeli hold on the city and its...

Renovation and Rehabilitation Works in the Old City of Jerusalem

By: Simon Kouba

In 1996 the Israeli government introduced a law that prohibited Jerusalem residents from living outside the municipal borders, or within Israeli sovereign territories in general. Many Jerusalemites were already living in Bethlehem...

Learning from Jerusalem

The Old City Revitalization Programme/Welfare Association

The Old City of Jerusalem, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1981) and a World Heritage Site in Danger (1982), carries both titles as a testimony to the special condition of the city. The beauty, significance, and uniqueness of the city easily...

East Jerusalem – The Urban Challenges

By: Anjad Hithnawi and Lubna Shaheen

Since its occupation in 1967, East Jerusalem and its surroundings have been under Israeli jurisdiction and the administration of the Israeli Jerusalem City Council.i Israel has strived to strengthen the Jewish presence...

Financial Planning Challenges in East Jerusalem

How Can We Break The Cycle?

By: Nassar Odeh

Economic growth is difficult in East Jerusalem, a detached territory racked with turmoil from an unjust occupation. A history of conflict, paired with cycles of economic uncertainty...

Jerusalem Tourism

Challenges and Opportunities

By: Raed Saadeh

The Palestinian consensus is that Jerusalem is a tourism destination of the first degree. It is perceived to be the city that possesses the strongest competencies as far as tourism is concerned. The current reality...

A Valentine Letter to Jerusalem

By: Riyam Kafri AbuLaban

Somewhere in my distant childhood, there are countless afternoons spent in the Old City. There is the smell of sweet qater oozing onto knafeh. There is me trying to manage Zalatimo’s mtabaq as it slips...

The Jerusalem-Ramallah Bus Company Aspirations and Accomplishments

By: Courtesy of The Jerusalem-Ramallah Bus Company

If we think of our country a hundred years ago, in the midst of the British Mandate, we would realize that the formation of a local transportation company was a national project...

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Message From the editor

Jerusalem, the city where the ache seems to echo always louder and deeper. All of us love it, long for it, fight for it, and hate it all at once. Our history might be varied, colorful, and stretching for... more

Jerusalem, My Beloved City

I have lived fifty years – practically my entire life – in Jerusalem. I don’t believe that my father or his father lived anywhere else. Not sure when the first Meo (previously Bartolomeo) settled in Palestine... more

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