Hummus (, ; Arabic: حُمُّص ḥummuṣ, 'chickpeas', also spelled hommus or houmous, is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic. The standard garnish in the Middle East includes olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, parsley, and paprika.
Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter of Egyptian origin, featuring in Middle Eastern cuisine, particularly Levantine cuisines, and is made from broad beans, ground chickpeas, or both.
Shara'a Simsim is a Palestinian educational television program for preschoolers based on the popular U.S. children's show Sesame Street. The series began airing in 1998 as a joint program with the Israeli version of Sesame Street, Rechov Sumsum, as a way to promote coexistence between Israeli-Jews and Israeli-Arabs.
Ari Devon Sandel is an American filmmaker. He is known for directing the short film West Bank Story (2005), which won the 2006 Academy Award in the category Best Live Action Short Film.
Cinema of Palestine refers to films made in Palestine and/or by Palestinian filmmakers. Palestinian films are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are produced in English and French.
Noureen DeWulf is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in West Bank Story (2005), Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), and The Back-up Plan (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitcom Anger Management (2012–2014).
Palestinian cuisine consists of foods from or commonly eaten by Palestinians or in the region of Palestine, whether in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, or refugee camps in nearby countries, or by the Palestinian diaspora. The cuisine is a diffusion of the cultures of civilizations that settled in the region of Palestine, particularly during and after the Islamic era beginning with the Arab Ummayad conquest, then the eventual Persian-influenced Abbasids and ending with the strong influences of Turkish cuisine, resulting from the coming of the Ottoman Turks. It is similar to other Levantine cuisines, including Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian.
Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.
David & Fatima is a 2008 drama film about a Palestinian woman and Israeli man from Jerusalem who fall in love. The film is a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and was directed by Alain Zaloum, and stars Cameron Van Hoy, Danielle Pollack, Merik Tadros, Anthony Batarse, Ismail Kanater, Sasha Knopf, John Bryant Davila, Ben Kermode, Allan Kolman, Tony Curtis and Martin Landau. This was Tony Curtis's last film.
Shadia Mansour, also known as "the first lady of Arabic hip hop" is a British-Palestinian rapper who performs in Arabic and English. Much of her music revolves around Middle Eastern politics.
Yuval Ron is a world music artist, composer, educator, peace activist, and record producer.
Palestine Is Still the Issue is a 2002 Carlton Television documentary, written and presented by John Pilger and directed by Tony Stark, inspired by the book Drinking The Sea at Gaza by Amira Hass. Pilger visits the Middle East and tries to discover why peace is elusive.
The Gatekeepers is a 2012 internationally co-produced documentary film by director Dror Moreh that tells the story of the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, from the perspective of six of its former heads.
Michael Solomonov is an Israeli chef known for his restaurants throughout Philadelphia. His first restaurant Zahav, founded in 2008, has received national recognition including the James Beard Foundation "Outstanding Restaurant" in 2019. Solomonov was also awarded Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017 from the James Beard Foundation. In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now."
Oren Rosenfeld is an Multi-Emmy Award winning Israeli documentary filmmaker, photojournalist, and film producer.
The Mute's House is a 2015 Israeli documentary film directed by Tamar Kay about the Rajabi's, a single mother and her son, both Palestinians living in the Jewish quarter of the West Bank city of Hebron. The film was produced by Ariel Richter and Tamar Kay as their thesis film at The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film & Television School. The film was well received by critics and audiences. In October 2016, the film was listed as one of the 10 shortlisted films to compete for the 89th Academy Award's Best Documentary Short Subject.
The Present is a 2020 short film directed by Farah Nabulsi and co-written by Nabulsi and Hind Shoufani, about a father and daughter in the Palestinian enclaves of the Israeli-occupied West Bank trying to buy a wedding anniversary gift. The cast is led by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri. It was released on Netflix on 18 March 2021, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film in addition to being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
A significant facet of the Arab–Israeli conflict deals with a cultural struggle over national cuisines. Foods like falafel and hummus, which originated in Middle Eastern cuisine, have historically been politicized in general expressions of gastronationalism throughout the region. The development of Israeli cuisine occurred largely through the mixing of Jewish diasporic cuisines with Levantine cuisine, including Palestinian cuisine. This effort aided the effective definition of the national identity of Israel as that of a melting pot, but simultaneously prompted claims of cultural appropriation, particularly with regard to the Palestinian people. More specifically, critics of Israeli cuisine's incorporation of dishes that are traditionally seen as part of Arab cuisine assert that Israel lacks recognition for their Palestinian aspects, disqualifying the process as one of cultural diffusion. Opposition to Israeli cuisine in the Arab world revolves around the accusation that dishes of Palestinian origin, or other Arab dishes to which there have been significant Palestinian contributions, are presented by Israel in a way that suppresses or omits the role of the Palestinians in their development.
The cuisine of Jerusalem reflects the long history of Jerusalem as a crossroads of cultures and religions. Millennia of trade, conquest, and migration have resulted in a unique fusion of culinary traditions, with significant influences from Jewish and Levantine Arab cuisine.
