IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Video Stories
Have a holly, jolly, Tanoreen Christmas! We profile the Palestinian-American Bishara family and their delicious Brooklyn restaurant, Tanoreen, as they take us inside their annual Christmas bash featuring home-cooked kibbeh and roasted lamb, Arabic music and shisha.
on December 18, 2019
News & Analysis
Church leaders in Jerusalem are appealing to Israeli authorities to reverse a decision that prohibits Palestinians in occupied Gaza from traveling to holy sites such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem during Christmas time this year.
on December 16, 2019
News & Analysis
Living under harsh military rule = no religious freedom. Israel just decided to ban Palestinian Christians in Gaza from visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem for Christmas.
on December 13, 2019
A Christmas tree lighting ceremony was held in Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank, that this year has been the focus of international outcry after an Israeli court ordered it be demolished.
on January 6, 2019
Photo Essays
In photos: Palestinians from Bethlehem to Nazareth participate in Christmas celebrations despite Israel's continuous efforts to erase Palestinian traditions and Palestinian Christian lives.
on December 20, 2018
News & Analysis
The town of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus, kicked off preparations for the festive season by erecting and lighting a giant Christmas tree outside the Church of Nativity.
on December 12, 2018
Jesus has been a key moral figure in my religious upbringing. I was born in New Jersey but my parents relocated to Palestine when I was in second grade. In Palestine, I attended the Quaker Friends Boys School. Yes, there are many Palestinian Christians, including Quakers. We learned about Liberation Theology...
on December 24, 2016
“Christmas has no place in the Holy Land,” insists Benzion Gopstein, the leader of a far-right Israeli group that has indirectly received support from the government. According to Gopstein, Christians are “vampires and blood suckers” that must be expelled from Israel, the U.S.’ closest ally. “Let us remove the vampires before they once again drink our blood,” he wrote in a recent article on an ultra-Orthodox website.
on December 26, 2015
When people think of Palestine and religion, the Muslim–Jewish conflict invariably comes to mind. But this association overlooks the 11% of Christian Palestinians who also live there — and who endure surprisingly similar prejudices to their Muslim counterparts. "Christians suffer from the same discrimination and marginalization facing the rest of the Palestinian community," the Huffington Post...
on December 24, 2015