Dar al-Kalima Publications

Lilies of Gaza – Women Artists in Times of War

Lilies of Gaza – Women Artists in Times of War is a powerful documentary publication from Dar al-Kalima University, highlighting the resilience and creativity of 22 Palestinian women artists from Gaza. Through 126 beautifully curated pages, the book unveils intimate life stories and artistic journeys of women who faced war, loss, and displacement — yet chose to resist through art. Each artist’s story captures moments of pain and perseverance, documenting artworks that were destroyed, lost, or newly created amid ruins and refugee tents. Together, their voices form a collective testimony of survival, hope, and artistic defiance in the face of devastation. The initiative was led by Dr. Inas Deeb, Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub at Dar al-Kalima University, in collaboration with Gazan artist Rana Battrawi, who compiled the stories and artworks between 2024–2025. The book features an introduction by artist Vera Tamari, design by Sharif Sarhan, Arabic text editing by Hidaya Shamun, and a special essay by Dr. Ehab Bssaiso titled “Memory, Place, and Self: The Trinity of Creative Experience.” Lilies of Gaza is more than a book — it is a celebration of life, art, and the unbreakable spirit of Gaza’s women artists.

Divine Encounters: Memoirs of an Armenian Palestinian Painter from Jerusalem and Beyond

Autobiographies are an important part of writing history, since they give a unique, first-hand, and an eyewitness account of the past, as lived by their writers. Autobiographies give us a glimpse of rich lives lived with all their ups and downs, struggles and failures, as well as advances and setbacks. Such genre invites us to look at history, no...

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Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible

Decolonizing Palestine challenges the weaponization of biblical texts to support the current settler-colonial state of Israel. Raheb argues that some of the most important theological concepts –Israel, the land, election, and chosen people – must be decolonized in a paradigm shift in Christian theological thinking about Palestine. Decolonizing Pale...

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Dedicated to Palestine: The Life and Work of Ethnologist Hilma Granqvist

In the 1920s and ‘30s Finnish Ethnologist Hilma Granqvist (1890-1972) conducted ground-breaking ethnological fieldwork in the Palestinian village of Artas. She developed a new method of research, which involved active participation in the life of the community she studied. Granqvist was meticulous in her work and gathered comprehensive statistical...

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The Saga of Survival: Armenian Palestinians, the British Mandate and the Nakba

The book depicts the life of the Armenian community during the British Mandate in Palestine. It contributes to the overall narrative about the political and socioeconomic aspects prior to the Nakba and the fundamental changes which have occurred to the indigenous and the uninterrupted presence of Armenians in Palestine. It sheds light on the challe...

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Culture and Digital Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities for Southwest Asia and North Africa

Southwestern Asia and North Africa (SWANA) is a region experiencing a multilevel digital transformation in the last few decades, with a surge in adopting new technologies and innovative ways of creating content, communicating, and doing business across all sectors. Digital transformation has reshaped how the private sphere, governments, non-governm...

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Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004

The book research the role of the Palestinian Christians in the struggle for national liberation from WWI through WWII and especially after the Israeli occupation in 1967. The role of the Palestinian Christians in resisting the Britisch mandate and Israeli occupation is highlighted. The contribution of the Christian churches in Palestine to diploma...

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A Palestinian Armenian: The Intertwine between the Social and the Political

This book tells the story and history of a 1,600-year-old Christian community in Palestine. The Armenian community is one of the oldest - if not the oldest- communities in Jerusalem with an interrupted presence. Armenia was the first Christian country to adopt Christianity as the religion of the state, thereby making national and religious identity...

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Mapping of Christian Organizations in Palestine: Social and Economic Impact

This study is a testimony to the vital role played by Christian churches and church-related organizations in Palestinian society, especially in the areas of education, health, development, and culture. This role is not new but dates back to the early church that was born in no other place than Jerusalem. The study reflects the continuing service an...

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We Choose Abundant Life

Christians in the Middle East: Towards Renewed Theological, Social, and Political Choices

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Diyar Publisher 2011-2021

Celebrating Ten Years Anniversary

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Towards Inclusive Societies: Middle Eastern Perspectives Paperback

Inclusive societies based on equal citizenship rights and dignity remain unfulfilled following the so-called Arab Spring. After years of turmoil, people in the Middle East seem to have opted for “state security” versus “human security”, while exclusive identities, be they ethnic, national, or religious such as the Sunni-Shiite divide, seem to push...

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Tawfiq Canaan: An Autobiography

Autobiographies give a unique, eyewitness account of historical events experienced by one particular person, an account of a life with all its ups and downs, struggles and failures, successes and setbacks. Canaan autobiography recounts a very rich life of one of Palestine’s leading ethnographers, medical doctor, public figure and one of the most pr...

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Middle Eastern Women: The Intersection of Law, Culture and Religion

Women in the Arab world suffer from a lack of equality in most rights, duties and within all areas of society, including the criminal justice court, economy, healthcare, media, politics, religion, family law and civil status law. International reports document the systematic gender gap that is based on discrimination, the prevalence of male traditi...

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Bethlehem: A Sociocultural History

Bethlehem has a unique setting spanning a fertile landscape to the west and desert to the east. Its diverse environment made it a center for Baal and Adonis on the one hand, and the perfect setting for desert monasteries on the other. Its historical and religious significance turned it into a place for pilgrimage and a tourist destination, while it...

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The Double Lockdown: Palestine under occupation and COVID-19

This unique booklet on the impact of COVID-19 on Palestine was prompted by the need to provide an overview of the effects of COVID-19 in the realms of politics, economy, health, gender, and religion.

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Jerusalem: Religious, National and International Dimensions

This book contains the findings of the latest research and studies conducted by Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in 2018. The first chapter examines the Scottish and English religious perception of Jerusalem as a source for British politics. The second chapter looks at an imagined Jerusalem in the Age of Trump. The third chapter...

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Christ at the Checkpoint: Blessed are the Peacemakers

This book contains the most important papers from the second, third, and fourth Christ at the Checkpoint conferences that took place in Bethlehem. The themes of these conferences were: "Hope in the Midst of Conflict" (2012), "Your Kingdom Come" (2014), and "The Gospel in the Face of Religious Extremism" (2016).

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For an open Jerusalem: Palestinian Christian Art today

Palestinian Christians are a group in the Middle East that is being decimated in a frightening way by emigration. Their voice, the voice of the descendants of the oldest Christians, must not go unheard. As sensitive interpreters of their time and situation, the artists are both Palestinians and Christians at the same time, marked by two traditions...

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Palestinian Christians: Emigration, Displacement and Diaspora

This book contains the findings of the latest research and studies conducted by Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in 2017. The first chapter crystallizes four waves of Christian emigration from Palestine within the last century. The second chapter contains the results of an emigration survey conducting in the West bank and the Ga...

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Bethlehem: The Historic Center & Bethlehem in Jerusalem

The First of its kind guidebook that gives a unique insight into the cultural, social, and religious history of the “Little Town” that got on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List.

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Diaspora and Identity The Case of Palestine

The studies on diaspora, migration and identity formation outside the “mother land” are increasing in number and scope. In the last ten years several papers, doctoral theses and books were published focusing on certain aspects of the Palestinian diaspora and identity. This book contains the proceedings of an international conference that was held...

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Shifting Identities: Changes in the Social, Political, and Religious Structures in the Arab World

This book contains the proceedings of the International conference, “Shifting Identities: Changes in the social, political, and religious structures in the Middle East”, which was held in Cyprus in July 2015. The conference brought together around 50 professors, historians, theologians, social scientists and researchers from over 15 countries inclu...

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Atlas of Palestinian Rural Heritage

This Book provides a comprehensive documentation of the social, cultural and oral history of rural Palestine and is an important tool for researchers,

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The Case for Humanity: An Extraordinary Session

In the first ever meeting of its kind at the United Nations, over one hundred of the greatest leaders, artists, and philosophers that have walked the earth gather in New York City. Among them, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Carl Jung, Nikola Tesla, Helen Kelle, Martin Luther King Jr, and Lao Tsu have traveled across space and time to h...

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Reflections on Palestinian Art: Art of Resistance or Aesthetics

Since artists are visual historians, they visualize history and offer those visualizations as art to be contemplated and interpreted by others. In this book, Faten Nastas Mitwasi views Palestinian history through the lens of art. She presents an excellent overview of Palestinian art and, more importantly, she analyzes it in the context of the dif...

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Palestinian Identity in Relation to Time and Space

The development of the Palestinian Identity has been the focus of many studies and conferences. However, all of the studies so far concentrate on the emergence of this identity in the last hundred years. Although several papers in this book still have dealt with the development of the Palestinian Identity in late Ottoman and early British Manda...

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Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes

“The author offers his thoughtful analysis of the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict through making astute historical and biblical connections that culminate in the presentation of hope as ‘faith in action.’ A scholar piece that makes a good read for anyone interested in this subject.” HR Prince El-Hassan bin Talal, Chairman of the board of...

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The Church of the Nativity

This is the first comprehensive guide book written about Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, based on the latest scholarly research, yet designed for a popular audience. Jerusalem's legendary photographer Garo Nalbandian provides color photographs of every section of the church complex, its mosaics and painted columns, artifacts from different eras...

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Sailing through Troubled Waters: Christianity in the Middle East

It was in 1988 that Mitri Raheb was ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land and was installed as Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem after finishing his seminary studies and doctorate in Germany in Church History. Besides being a Pastor, Mitri Raheb continued to be involved in the...

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Palestinian Christians in the West Bank: Facts, Figures and Trends

Many resources could be found dealing with the status of Palestinian Christians. However, a few of them could be considered comprehensive and up-to-date. This has been confirmed by a recent mapping carried out by Diyar Consortium. This book aims at creating a reliable database that is essential in developing a shared, comprehensive and ecumenic...

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Arab Christians in Israel: Facts, Figures and Trends Paperback

Many resources could be found dealing with the status of Arab Christians in Israel. However, only a few of them could be considered comprehensive and up-to-date. This has been confirmed by a recent mapping carried out by Diyar Consortium. This book aims at creating a reliable database that is essential in developing a shared, comprehensive and...

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Latin American with Palestinian Roots

This book represents the first attempt to shed light on the christian Palestinian presence in Latin America, with special focus on Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Chile.

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The Invention of History

This Book Contains the proceedings of the August 2009 “The Invention of History” conference organized by Diyar in Bethlehem, Palestine. The conference brought together 50 professors, theologians and researchers from over 10 countries. The book analyzes major theological trends and shifts of the twentieth century in several contexts. It also...

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Bethlehem 2000

Known as the birth-place of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem is one of the most important places of pilgrimage and tourism in the world. Even nowadays the impact of religion and history on this town can be felt. However, Bethlehem is also part of region that was shaped by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the twentieth century; for nearly thirty years the...

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