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Palestine before the Nakba

Pictures and stories from the towns, villages, markets and ports of a Palestine living its whole life before it was uprooted.

22 entries

Palestine Railways — The line that joined Haifa to Gaza, and Jaffa to Jerusalem Haifa Lydda Jaffa Jerusalem Gaza
The line that joined Haifa to Gaza, and Jaffa to Jerusalem
Cafés in Palestine Before the Nakba: From the Vagabonds’ Café to Kawkab al-Sharq Palestine before the Nakba
Cafés in Palestine Before the Nakba: From the Vagabonds’ Café to Kawkab al-Sharq

Before the Nakba, the café was the heart of the Palestinian city: there newspapers were read and politics debated, the hakawati told the epics of Anta...

Palestine before the Nakba
Palestinian Women Before the Nakba: From the Threshing Floor to the Women’s Congress Palestine before the Nakba
Palestinian Women Before the Nakba: From the Threshing Floor to the Women’s Congress

Before the Nakba, Palestinian women were everywhere: in the fields and on the threshing floor, at the spring and the taboun oven, in schools and hospi...

Palestine before the Nakba
Nazareth Before the Nakba: The City That Remained and Sheltered Galilee Palestine before the Nakba
Nazareth Before the Nakba: The City That Remained and Sheltered Galilee

Nazareth, capital of Galilee, is a Palestinian city in the heart of Lower Galilee. Before the Nakba it was a district center and the market for the vi...

Palestine before the Nakba
Beersheba Before the Nakba: Capital of the Naqab, From the Saraya to Exile Palestine before the Nakba
Beersheba Before the Nakba: Capital of the Naqab, From the Saraya to Exile

Beersheba, capital of the Naqab, is a Palestinian town on the edge of the desert, rebuilt by the Ottomans in 1900 as the center of the largest distric...

Palestine before the Nakba
Al-Majdal and Asqalan Before the Nakba: City of Looms and Oranges Palestine before the Nakba
Al-Majdal and Asqalan Before the Nakba: City of Looms and Oranges

Al-Majdal, or Majdal Asqalan, is a Palestinian city on the southern coast near the ruins of ancient Asqalan (Ascalon). Before the Nakba it was Palesti...

Palestine before the Nakba
Beisan Before the Nakba: The Ghor’s Breadbasket, From Threshing Floors to Exile Palestine before the Nakba
Beisan Before the Nakba: The Ghor’s Breadbasket, From Threshing Floors to Exile

Beisan, the breadbasket of the Ghor, is a Palestinian city where the Marj Ibn Amer plain meets the Jordan Valley, about 150 meters below sea level. Be...

Palestine before the Nakba
Tiberias Before the Nakba: The Lake’s Bride, From the Walls to Exile Palestine before the Nakba
Tiberias Before the Nakba: The Lake’s Bride, From the Walls to Exile

Tiberias, the bride of the lake, is a Palestinian city on the western shore of Lake Tiberias, more than two hundred meters below sea level. Before the...

Palestine before the Nakba
Safad Before the Nakba: Upper Galilee’s Capital, From Its Quarters to Exile Palestine before the Nakba
Safad Before the Nakba: Upper Galilee’s Capital, From Its Quarters to Exile

Safad, the bride of Galilee and capital of Upper Galilee, is a mountain city about 800 meters above sea level, overlooking Lake Tiberias and the hills...

Palestine before the Nakba
Lydda and Ramla Before the Nakba: From Orange Groves to the Death March Palestine before the Nakba
Lydda and Ramla Before the Nakba: From Orange Groves to the Death March

Lydda and Ramla are twin cities on the Palestinian plain, only a few kilometers apart: Ramla was the capital of Palestine in the Umayyad era, and Lydd...

Palestine before the Nakba
Acre Before the Nakba: The City Whose Walls Held Palestine before the Nakba
Acre Before the Nakba: The City Whose Walls Held

Acre is a city whose walls held against Napoleon in 1799, and until 1948 it remained almost entirely Arab: in 1946 it had about 13,560 residents, only...

Palestine before the Nakba
The Palestinian Village Before the Nakba: Home, Harvest and Peasant Life Palestine before the Nakba
The Palestinian Village Before the Nakba: Home, Harvest and Peasant Life

Most Palestinians before the Nakba were peasants: about three-quarters of the population lived in villages, and farming was their main livelihood. In...

Palestine before the Nakba
West Jerusalem Before the Nakba: Qatamon, Talbiyeh and Baq’a Al-Quds (Jerusalem)
West Jerusalem Before the Nakba: Qatamon, Talbiyeh and Baq’a

West Jerusalem was not Jewish before 1948. In the new neighborhoods outside the walls, such as Qatamon, Talbiyeh, Baq'a and Musrara, tens of thousands...

Al-Quds (Jerusalem)
Haifa Before the Nakba: City of the Port, Workers and Press Palestine before the Nakba
Haifa Before the Nakba: City of the Port, Workers and Press

Before the 1948 Nakba, Haifa was Palestine's largest working-class city and its most important port. About 75,000 Palestinians lived there, and it was...

Palestine before the Nakba
Palestine before the Nakba
Trains and Ports in Palestine Before the Nakba: Railways and Haifa Port

Palestine has known the train since September 26, 1892, when the first train arrived in Jerusalem from Jaffa. In 1905 the Haifa–Daraa branch of the He...

Palestine before the Nakba
Cinema and Theatre in Palestine Before the Nakba and Radio Jerusalem Palestine before the Nakba
Cinema and Theatre in Palestine Before the Nakba and Radio Jerusalem

Before the Nakba, Palestine had a rich artistic life: cinemas in its major cities from the early twentieth century, the first Palestinian film in 1935...

Palestine before the Nakba
Jaffa Before the Nakba: City of Newspapers, Cinemas, Cafés and Clubs Palestine before the Nakba
Jaffa Before the Nakba: City of Newspapers, Cinemas, Cafés and Clubs

Before the 1948 Nakba, Jaffa was the largest Arab city in Palestine and its cultural capital. Some 50 newspapers and magazines were published there, d...

Palestine before the Nakba
Fishing in Palestine Before the Nakba: Abundant Seas and Good Times Palestine before the Nakba
Fishing in Palestine Before the Nakba: Abundant Seas and Good Times

Before the 1948 Nakba, fishing sustained many Palestinian families along a coast stretching from Ras al-Naqoura to Rafah, and on the shores of Lake Ti...

Palestine before the Nakba
Olive Harvest in Palestine: Traditions, Al-Ouneh and Settler Attacks in 2026 Palestine before the Nakba
Olive Harvest in Palestine: Traditions, Al-Ouneh and Settler Attacks in 2026

The olive harvest in Palestine is more than farm work. It is a family festival that brings relatives and neighbours together under the trees from dawn...

Palestine before the Nakba