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Christmas

Palestine Reporting

How Jesus’s Hometown Is Coping With War at Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published on The New Republic on Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is usually brimming with cheer—and tourists—this time of year. But the war in Gaza has turned it into a

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Opinion Palestine

How Trump ruined Christmas for Palestinian Christians

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Middle East Eye on December 25, 2017. American support for Israel is helping drive Palestinian Christians out Christmas is a special time of the year in Palestine.

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Palestine Reporting

Group calls for Orthodox church reform over alleged Israel land sales

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on Jan. 14, 2015. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Christmas is a time for holiday cheer in Bethlehem, as thousands from across Palestine and around the world

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Palestine Reporting

Bethlehem filled with hope as Christmas season approaches

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on December 3, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Bethlehem of today is a far cry from the little village of Jesus’ era, and the historic

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Reporting

Watch: Christian groups decry Israeli restrictions ahead of Easter

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on April 14, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Christian groups in Jerusalem have launched a campaign condemning Israeli restrictions on freedom of worship in advance

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Reporting

Bethlehem man detained over anti-USAID Christmas tree decorations

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on December 4, 2013. A Bethlehem man was detained on Tuesday by Palestinian police for helping decorate a tree with used American-made tear gas

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About me

Alex Shams is an Iranian-American writer and a PhD student of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

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  • Workshop: Investigating Power
  • The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood
  • A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran
  • ‘They Hit Everyone and Anyone’: From Lebanon, residents share what life has been like since Israel launched its attack.
  • Iran Braces for Uncertainty After President Raisi’s Death
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About

Born and raised in an Iranian-American family in Los Angeles, Alex Shams has long been fascinated by the stories that places can tell us. Growing up, he learned Persian and Spanish; in college, he learned Arabic and studied abroad at the American University of Cairo before moving to Beirut after graduation. After receiving his master’s in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, he moved to Bethlehem, Palestine, where he was a journalist at Ma’an News Agency, the largest independent Palestinian news organization. He received his PhD. from the University of Chicago in Sociocultural Anthropology. His dissertation, entitled “Constructing Islamic Modernity: Power, Religion, and Masculinity in Post-Revolutionary Iran,” was based on three years of ethnographic research in Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan as well as archival research in the British Library and Ba’ath Party Archives.

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