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Jerusalem

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

Syriac Christians in Palestine keep hope alive amid IS fears

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Alex Shams

The Syriacs of Jerusalem’s Old City have been systematically expelled by Israel since 1967, but the community still has a strong identity

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Israel Palestine Reporting

Armenians in Palestine mark 100 years since Genocide

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on April 23, 2015. JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Armenian community of the Holy Land this week marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of

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Israel Palestine Reporting

Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem’s al-Malha

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on May 16, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Towering above the gargantuan Jerusalem Mall and the repetitive, non-descript homes of the Malha (or Manahat) suburb

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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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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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Popular posts

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    Workshop: Investigating Power
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    Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem's al-Malha
  • On Persian pilgrimages, Pakistanis and Indians reconnect with Iran
    On Persian pilgrimages, Pakistanis and Indians reconnect with Iran

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