Based on Matthew Teller's book "Nine Quarters of Jerusalem" I developed a tour in the old city of Jerusalem that introduces the visitor to the different cultural, social and religious communities that are part of the social fabric of the city. In April 2025 Matthew was visiting Jerusalem and we did the tour with a group of expats and diplomats. I recorded the tour and edited the recording into this lively episode that makes you feel you are walking with us in the streets of Jerusalem. You can...

Every year the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem enters Christ's tomb in the Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem with no way to start a fire, prays, and fire miraculously appears which is then distributed to the faithful. For a brief time this fire does not burn. In this episode I talk with Ghassan Kattoua, who has joined the Holy Fire ceremony every year since he was a child. His family is one of the thirteen families who has the right to carry the banners in the Holy Sepulcher on Holy Sa...

For International Women's Day, today on the 8th of March, I prepared a tour in the old city of Jerusalem, that takes you through the history of Jerusalem with women as the main characters! Unfortunately the old city is closed to visitors due to the war with Iran and the tour is canceled. I decided to record some of the stories of these important historical women and share this episode with you on International Women's Day. This virtual guided journey through Jerusalem highlights t...

My name is Kristel, I studied history and tour guiding in the Netherlands and I have a tour guide license from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and from the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism. During the Covid pandemic I created the podcast Stories from Palestine. I stopped uploading new episodes when things opened up and I could actually go out there and do tour guiding. But now, due to the current war situation, I have decided to go back to podcasting, focusing on stories from Jerusalem. ...

A couple of years ago I received three pieces of embroidery that used to be the chest pieces of Palestinian dresses. The Palestinian dress is called a 'thob' in Arabic. The person who gave them to me said she had received them from an Israeli woman who had said: “these were from the people who used to live here” As she didn't know what to do with them, she handed them to me. I also didn't know what was the best thing to do so I asked a Palestinian friend who is a designer and knowledgea...

A couple of years ago I received three pieces of embroidery that used to be the chest pieces of Palestinian dresses. The Palestinian dress is called a 'thob' in Arabic. The person who gave them to me said she had received them from an Israeli woman who had said: “these were from the people who used to live here” As she didn't know what to do with them, she handed them to me. I also didn't know what was the best thing to do so I asked a Palestinian friend who is a designer and knowledgea...

In this episode you will hear three interviews I carried out for PAX Palestine Podcast with four Palestinian young women who share their transformative journey with the Youth Bridges for Democracy and Participation project. This project is carried out by PAX and the Palestinian Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD). Through this initiative youth and women are learning to step into local governance roles, empowered with the skills and confidence to hold municipal authorities accountable and ...

Nada is a Palestinian-American author, teacher and mother. She was six years old when her mother kidnapped her from Kuwait, at the time when Iraq invaded Kuwait. They went to the United States where her uncle lived in Rhode Island. She did not yet realize that it was not a holiday but they were going to stay. Her debut book All Water Has a Perfect Memory is a memoir that takes readers from the author’s ancestral origins- the coast of Yaffa, Palestine, to her birthplace of Kuwait, eventually...

Recently the kids and I watched the film 'A house in Jerusalem' by filmmaker Muayad Elayyan who happens to be a far cousin and friend of my husband Tariq. Although he told me that he had a small role as an extra in this film, which he's had in all Muayad's films, I did NOT recognize him. Turns out the policeman in the scene when Rebecca wanders off from the summer school activity in Jerusalem and ends up with the Palestinian puppeteer, is MY husband!! We only realized at the end of the film w...

On a Friday evening in September I attended a beautiful concert of the Amwaj children's choir in Bethlehem. I had tears rolling down my eyes. Not only did the choir sound so beautiful, but also did I realize what Palestinian children in the Westbank are suffering through. And how their peers in Gaza are losing everything, their houses, their beloved ones, their schools, their chances, their future, their hope... I decided to interview Michele Cantoni, an Italian musician (violinist) who esta...