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Palestine

Iran Palestine

A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ajam Media Collective on Dec. 24, 2024. In Qazvin, a few hours west of Tehran, there is a turquoise-blue shrine locals know as Peyghambarieh, “the place of

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Opinion Palestine USA

Universities should defend students’ right to free speech, not aid their repression

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published in the Chicago Tribune on May 1, 2024. In mid-April, the University of Southern California banned the school valedictorian from giving a commencement address for the first time in its

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Iran Reporting

They Risked Their Lives for Freedom in Iran. Now They Fear Israel’s Bombs.

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Truthout on April 29, 2024. Having survived waves of domestic repression, protesters in Iran are now in the crosshairs of Israeli bombs. In fall 2022, they were

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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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Israel Opinion Palestine

Israel Needs a Plan in Gaza. Don’t Look to the West Bank for Ideas

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in Newsweek on Nov. 20, 2023. One of Elias Deis’ first childhood memories is running from soldiers opening fire on his neighbors. It was 1989. The First Intifada

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Arab World Palestine Reporting

‘They Don’t Want People to Know We Exist’: Palestinians across the West Bank describe what life has been like since October 7

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in New York Magazine on Nov. 10, 2023. Over the last month, Israel launched an assault across the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, in

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Featured India Iraq Israel Palestine Reporting

Amba: The Iraqi Mango Pickle from India That Tops Palestinian Shawarma

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on October 22, 2018. Step into any Palestinian shawarma shop and the choice of toppings traverse a mouth-watering array of options: thick tahini-and-parsley bakdoonsiyyeh, crushed shatta peppers

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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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Opinion Palestine

How Israeli control over Jerusalem destroyed its holiest sites

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Middle East Eye on December 18, 2017. Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital serves to legitimise ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – Christian and Muslim alike

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Iraq Palestine Reporting

The Iraqi soldiers who sacrificed everything to defend Palestine in 1948

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ajam Media Collective on May 15, 2017. The main road north from the West Bank city of Nablus winds between rolling hills covered in olive groves, abandoned

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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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Recent posts

  • 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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    Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
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    The “Terrorists” in My Grandmother’s Neighborhood
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    Retracing the Nakba in West Jerusalem's al-Malha
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    On Persian pilgrimages, Pakistanis and Indians reconnect with Iran

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