Stories from Jerusalem / Al Quds

 During my visit to family and friends in the Netherlands, I also meet my Palestinian friends from the Gazastrip who live here. It's the only chance for us to meet as they can not come to the Westbank or Jerusalem and I cannot visit the Gazastrip.

In this episode you can learn more about the Gazastrip and hear a conversation I had with Wasim and Nader who grew up in Gaza and moved to the Netherlands in their early twenties.

We talk about the history of Gaza, the current situation in Gaza and the memories that Nader and Wasim have of their life in the Gazastrip.

Music at the end of the episode is Mohammed Assaf from Gaza
The music produced for this podcast is by Zaid Hilal (find him on social media)

At the end of this episode I also mention three podcasts that interviewed me recently. If you are interested to listen to them here are their names, you can find them on your favorite podcast player:

Jerusalem Unplugged

Salt the Podcast

Dialogue

And if you want to connect to Stories from Palestine on social media or if you want to do a much appreciated donation for the podcast then go to
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

During my June podcast break between season 2 and 3 you can listen to three episodes I made for PAX Palestine Podcast. 

PAX is a peace organization based in the Netherlands. 

PAX works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace. 

In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

The PAX Palestine Podcast features interviews with some of the local Palestinian partners of PAX. 

In Area C in the West Bank PAX supports a resilience project of Danish Church Aid and the Church of Sweden together with East Jerusalem YMCA. Emphasizing the resources that are available, the project works with various Area C communities on forming protection groups, identifying and addressing community needs, by mobilizing available resources and offering small cash grants.

In this episode we speak with George Zeidan and Mai Jarrar about their resilience project in the South Hebron Hills.

If you want to read more you can go to:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/9EAT3NARZHRol/

https://www.paxforpeace.nl/our-work/programmes/israel-and-palestine

To see the online photo exhibition of the Palestinian Resilience Project go to:

https://www.palestineresilience.org

The music for this podcast was made by Zaid Hilal. You can find him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Sound Cloud.

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

During my June podcast break between season 2 and 3 you can listen to three episodes I made for PAX Palestine Podcast. 

PAX is a peace organization based in the Netherlands. 

PAX works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace. 

In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

The PAX Palestine Podcast features interviews with some of the local Palestinian partners of PAX. 

In the West Bank, PAX works with the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD) on issues like promoting gender equality, preparing young Palestinians to participating in election campaigns and municipal councils, and holding municipalities accountable for their policies and promises of inclusive politics.

In this episode we speak with Naseef Muallem and Ekram Zubaydi about the work of the PCPD and the upcoming elections in Palestine. We also included some snippets of a discussion between Palestinian students about their views on democracy and the elections in Palestine.

To read more you can go to:

https://www.pcpd.ps/

https://www.paxforpeace.nl/our-work/programmes/israel-and-palestine

The music for this podcast was made by Zaid Hilal. You can find him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Sound Cloud

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

During my June podcast break between season 2 and 3 you can listen to three episodes I made for PAX Palestine Podcast. 

PAX is a peace organization based in the Netherlands. 

PAX works together with committed citizens and partners to protect civilians against acts of war, to end armed violence, and to build a just peace. 

In Palestine PAX supports local partners in building resilient communities, promoting human security and equality in the political, cultural and social domain, and in fighting the injustices resulting from the protracted occupation.

The PAX Palestine Podcast features interviews with some of the local Palestinian partners of PAX. 

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel was created in 2002 by the World Council of Churches.

EAPPI volunteers aim to offer a protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitoring and reporting human rights abuses. They join Palestinians and Israelis who work in nonviolent ways for peace, and they interact with a myriad of international, Israeli and Palestinian partners.

An interview with local program coordinator Jack Munayer and with one of the Dutch volunteers of the EAPPI program.

For more information check out the websites:

https://eappi.org/en

https://www.paxforpeace.nl/our-work/programmes/israel-and-palestine

The music for this podcast was made by Zaid Hilal. You can find him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Sound Cloud.

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

This week we finish the last semester of the tour guide program at the Bethlehem Bible College.  With twenty Palestinian students I have been studying for two years to get the tour guide diploma. This diploma will allow us to apply for the exam of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism. If we pass that exam then we will become licensed tour guides.

In this episode you can listen to our program manager and teacher Haytham Dieck and ten of the tour guides students who are graduating from the Bible College.  They tell you about their favorite places to visit in Palestine and their passion for the history and heritage of their country. Most of the conversations with the students were recorded during a walk around Bethlehem.

We hope that soon it will be possible again for individual tourists to come and visit Palestine. If YOU are interested to visit us, write an e-mail if you want help to plan your visit or if you would like to register for a (tailor-made) program. We are hopeful that several people will join in the end of October for the olive harvest season and it would be great to get a group of travelers together to organize some tours and activities.

You can send an email to: [email protected]
or connect on social media.

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

In June 2020 the town of Beit Sahour was recognized by the World Craft Council as the World Craft City for the year 2020 based on its long tradition of olive wood carving. The World Craft Council is a UNESCO-affiliated organization that was founded in New York in 1964 to promote and support craft work.

Palestinian olive wood carving probably dates back to the Crusader time and is artisan work that was taught from father to son.

Most of the olive wood industry is at least partially mechanized now but there are still olive wood artists who spend weeks working on one piece, by hand, with lots of characteristics and details that could never be done by a so-called copy machine.

Elias Abu Zuluf from Beit Sahour has his own olive wood workshop and souvenir shop. In this podcast interview he talks about the characteristics of olive wood, how this local tradition came about, what kind of olive wood is used, what type of carvings you can find in Palestine and how Covid19 affected the wood workers in Palestine.

If you are interested to visit his website and see the olive carving go to www.zuluf.com and order online with the "15 off" promo code.

Follow Stories from Palestine podcast on Facebook and Instagram and sign up for the mailing list. If you want to make a donation you can do that on Go Fund me (creditcard) or on Ko-fi (PayPal or Stripe) All the links can be found here:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

A lot of things are happening in Palestine. In the previous episode you could hear from seven Palestinians from different parts of Palestine what was happening in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, the Aqsa mosque, in Gaza and the Westbank.

On Tuesday 18 May all Palestinians in the Westbank, Jerusalem and the 48 lands (the current State of Israel) went on national strike. This was the first time since 1936 when the whole country went on strike to protest the British Mandate policies of supporting the Zionist movement, that all Palestinians united. And this sense of unity is very important and is felt by all Palestinians.

This podcast is an update on what is happening on the ground. We hear from Nader who is in Gaza city about the continuous strong bombings of the Gaza strip by Israel. Yazan from Bethlehem tells us about the importance of the strike and the protests in the Westbank. From the 48 lands we have an update from Ramy in Jaffa and from Aya in Lydd about the participation in the strike and the police brutality and settler violence against Palestinians. Waseem, the famous vet (dogtor) in Jerusalem talks about his experiences joining the protest in Jerusalem and getting tear gassed and shot at. Sanad from Nablus, whom you know from the podcast about hiking and climbing, lost his cousin, who was shot in the heart, near Nablus.
Alina is in Poland spending three days at the Parliament in Warsaw to raise awareness and lobby the parliament to take a stance against Israel's crimes.

If you want to support the podcast, if you want to get on the mailing list or follow the podcast on social media then use this link: https://podspout.app/storiesfrompalestine

Tips to read and watch more:

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Ilan Pappe)
My father was a freedom fighter (Ramzy Baroud)
I saw Ramallah (Mourid Barghouti)
In search of Fatima (Ghada Karmi)
Palestinian walks (Raja Shehadeh)
Mornings in Jenin (Susan Abulhawa)
One Country (Ali Abunimah)
The Israel lobby and American foreign policy (John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt)
The general's son (Miko Peled)

More book tips:
https://www.palestineportal.org/resource-directory/by-medium/books-and-films/

For films check out this link:
https://www.palestineportal.org/resource-directory/by-medium/films/

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

This week a lot of things happened and shifted in Palestine. It started with the Israeli restrictions imposed on Palestinians in Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan. In the same time there were protests to support the Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood who are threatened to be evicted from their homes by settler organizations supported by the Israeli forces. The Israeli forces also attacked the worshipers at the Aqsa mosque and for several days they used full force and a lot of violence to remove the people from the Aqsa compound. Then the resistance in the Gazastrip responded with rockets. And Israel started bombing the Gaza strip. In the meantime inside the 48 lands (the current State of Israel) the Palestinians were protesting and the response by the Israeli forces was to use a lot of violence. Another scary development is that mobs of Israeli settlers started roaming the cities of Palestinians inside 48 lands and marking the houses of Palestinians and attacking them on the streets and in their homes.

In this podcast episode you can hear voices from Jaffa, Lydd, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tequa and Gaza about the situation and context of what is happening right now.

If you want to follow some reliable sources check out these:
https://www.972mag.com/
https://www.middleeasteye.net/
https://mondoweiss.net/

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

My friend Rosemary, who is French and also married to a Palestinian, invited us to join an afternoon hike followed by an iftar, to break the fasting during this month of Ramadan, organized by the Palestinian Association for Mountain Sports Development (PAMSD). I took my recorder along and on the way I talked to two of the organizers and tour guides and several of the participants about how hiking and climbing is becoming more and more popular among Palestinians. There are several initiatives that organize hikes and climbing and with PAMSD you can also practice in their indoor climbing hall in Bethlehem. I am going to add some links here to the initiatives mentioned in the podcast. Check them out and follow them so that in future visits to Palestine you can join their activities!

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

PAMSD on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PalestineClubPAMSD
PAMSD on Instagram: https://instagram.com/palestineclubformountainsport

Tales of Roots on facebook

To the Moon on facebook (hiking, climbing and camping)

Palestinian heritage trail on facebook
https://phtrail.org/

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine

We are half way the month of Ramadan and the previous two episodes were related to this month of fasting for Muslims. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam. In this episode we speak about the other four pillars of Islam, about the history of Islam and some of the important traditions and believes of Muslims.

I worked on this episode also as part of my tour guide studies. We had a semester with Dr. Barakat Al Qasrawi about the history of Islam and the religious practices. Instead of preparing for the final exam in Arabic, which was a bit out of my league, I prepared this podcast episode in which I share what I learned from him and the sources he shared with me in English.

In this episode you will also hear my daughter Louisa pronouncing some of the verses in Arabic.

If you want to know more about Sufism then you can listen to episode 2 of season 2.
Or click here to find it on the Buzzsprout site

Connect to Stories from Palestine on social media, follow the YouTube channel and sign up for the weekly e-mail. You can find all the links in the linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Storiesfrompalestine

Send us Fan Mail

Find me on Instagram @StoriesfromJerusalem

Support the podcast with a donation: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfrompalestine