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Palestine Reporting

Bet Lahem Live festival brings Star Street back to life

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on June 18, 2014. Star Street was once the bustling heart of Bethlehem’s Old City, a vital link on the 1,500-year-old pilgrimage route from Jerusalem to

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Palestine Reporting

Bethlehem walls transformed in the presence of the Holy See

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on May 24, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — In advance of Pope Francis’ visit to the Holy Land on Sunday, Bethlehem residents and officials have been

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Reporting

Palestinian Christians ask Maronite patriarch to reconsider Jerusalem visit

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency. on May 10, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A prominent Palestinian Christian activist group has urged the Lebanese patriarch to reconsider an upcoming trip to

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Palestine Reporting

Easter in the destroyed Palestinian village of Maalul

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on April 19, 2014. MAALUL (Ma’an) — As thousands of Palestinian Christians descend on Jerusalem for Holy Week festivities, the villagers of Maalul are busy

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Palestine Reporting

Palestinian Christians receive the Holy Fire in Bethlehem

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on April 19, 2014. Thousands of Palestinian Christians marched in cities and villages across the Holy Land on Saturday to receive the holy fire

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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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Palestine Reporting

Designing the ‘Ceremonial Uniform’ for the Palestinian Authority: An Interview with Omar Joseph Nasser-Khoury

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on March 27, 2014. “The Ceremonial Vniform” opened to the public at Birzeit University Museum on March 20. Created by Palestinian artist Omar Joseph

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Israel Palestine Reporting

New identity law raises fears of Israeli effort to divide Christians

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ma’an News Agency on Feb. 26, 2014. BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A new law to create a separate “Christian” nationality for Palestinian citizens of Israel successfully passed through the

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Reporting

In photos: Rooftop garden flourishes atop Bethlehem refugee camp

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on February 16, 2014. In 1948, three-quarters of a million Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes inside what is today Israel. Since

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Palestine Reporting

Camp on front line of struggle against occupation

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Alex Shams

Originally published by Ma’an News Agency on February 11, 2014. Tucked behind the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel in the northern edges of Bethlehem sits the crowded Aida refugee camp. Reacting to

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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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