Jerusalem: The Home in Our Hearts

Jerusalem: The Home in Our Hearts … is a colourful, multi-dimensional, and nuanced story of the Sarsar family.

With Greek, Russian, and Palestinian roots, it integrates aspects of daily life, community connections, and aspirations in the midst of poverty, conflict, and pain that extend from the Ottoman control of Jerusalem to the British Mandate, from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to Jordan’s rule, and from the Six-Day War to Israel’s rule and the two Palestinian intifadas of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, respectively. Reading the Sarsar family’s story makes evident that ordinary people can overcome extraordinary conditions through faith, hope, and resilience. Jerusalem is a perfect place for checking the pulse, for hearing the heartbeat, for celebrations and songs. She is a perfect place for calling attention to the human in each of us, for realising potential.