Jerusalem Story: Virtual Event

Jerusalem Story tells the story of a unique city through a new lens—that of the city’s large and diverse indigenous Palestinian community.

This community has deep historic roots in Jerusalem and holds the strongest attachment to and love for their city. Yet, they have been subjected to unrelenting efforts to erase their presence in, and potential claim to, the city—past, present, and future—in the service of cementing Israel’s imperative of claiming sole sovereignty in perpetuity over a “united Jewish Jerusalem.” Against this ongoing effort to erase the Palestinian cultural and community history as well as severing connection to place, Jerusalem Story is reasserting the Palestinian presence.

SPEAKERS:

Kate Rouhana

Founding Director, Jerusalem Story

Kate Rouhana is a writer, editor, and researcher.She has lived and worked as a journalist and researcher in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine several times throughout her life. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and a BA in International Relations, both from Harvard University.

Amina Abdulhaq

Researcher/Writer, Jerusalem Story

Amina Abdulhaq is a human rights lawyer and a researcher. Her family has deep historic roots in Jerusalem. Her work focuses on Jerusalem, women, and gender. Amina is fully devoted to raising all oppressed people’s voices, inclusively embracing diversities and uniqueness.

Arda Aghazarian

Writer, Jerusalem Story

Arda Aghazarian is a communications consultant with ample experience in creative and professional writing and has also worked in audiovisual production—including film and radio. Arda has delivered training, public speaking, and mentoring at key global events, mostly on issues related to women and conflict, identity, language, and narrative.

Nadim Bawalsa

Researcher/Writer, Jerusalem Story

Nadim Bawalsa is a historian of modern Palestine and author of Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return before 1948 (Stanford University Press, 2022).. Bawalsa’s work has also appeared in the Jerusalem Quarterly, NACLA Report on the Americas, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, the Journal of Palestine Studies, and in two edited volumes. Bawalsa earned a PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from NYU in 2017, and an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University in 2010. In addition to his work with Jerusalem Story, Bawalsa is associate editor at the Journal of Palestine Studies.