History is messy. If you try to look up the Jerusalem Times newspaper today, you’re going to run into a bit of a digital ghost hunt. You might find a defunct website, some archival snippets from the nineties, or perhaps you'll confuse it with the Jerusalem Post or the Times of Israel. But the Jerusalem Times—specifically the one founded by Mahmoud Abu Zalaf and later revitalized by Hanna Siniora—was a very specific, very hopeful creature of the Oslo Accords era.
It wasn't just a paper. It was a bridge.
In the mid-1990s, the atmosphere in Jerusalem and the West Bank was electric, albeit tense. The peace process actually looked like it might lead somewhere. Into this space stepped a weekly English-language Palestinian newspaper that wanted to tell the Palestinian story to the world without the filtered lens of international wire services. It was bold. It was often struggling. Honestly, it was a miracle it stayed in print as long as it did.
The Birth of a Palestinian Voice in English
The Jerusalem Times newspaper didn't just appear out of nowhere. It was deeply rooted in the Palestinian press tradition, specifically linked to the Arabic daily Al-Quds. When it launched its modern iteration in 1994, the goal was simple: provide a Palestinian perspective in the lingua franca of international diplomacy.
You have to remember the context.
The Palestinian Authority was new. The world’s eyes were on Arafat and Rabin. If you were a diplomat, a humanitarian worker, or a foreign journalist stationed in East Jerusalem, you needed to know what the local leadership and the "street" were thinking. Reading the Jerusalem Post gave you one side; reading the Jerusalem Times gave you the other. It was an independent voice, though obviously aligned with Palestinian national aspirations.
Hanna Siniora, a veteran journalist and a member of the Palestine National Council, was the driving force for years. He wasn't some corporate suit. He was a guy who lived the conflict. He understood that if Palestinians didn't write their own headlines in English, someone else would do it for them—and probably get it wrong.
Why the Paper Mattered (And Why It Struggled)
The newspaper was a weekly. That’s a tough business model even in the best of times.
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It focused heavily on social issues, cultural heritage, and the nitty-gritty of political negotiations. You’d find articles about the restoration of old buildings in Hebron right next to an op-ed about the failures of the latest summit at Taba or Wye River. It was eclectic. Sometimes the English was a bit clunky—it had that charming, translated-from-Arabic feel—but the authenticity was undeniable.
Finances were a constant nightmare.
The Jerusalem Times didn't have a massive advertising base. Most local businesses couldn't afford it, and international advertisers were skittish. It relied heavily on subscriptions from NGOs, embassies, and universities. When the Second Intifada broke out in 2000, the "peace process" brand of the paper became a much harder sell. People weren't looking for bridges anymore; they were looking for bunkers.
The Digital Fade and the Archive Gap
If you go looking for their archives now, it’s frustrating.
The website https://www.google.com/search?q=biladi.com (which was their digital home for years) is largely a graveyard of 404 errors or parked domains. This is the tragedy of early digital journalism in conflict zones. When the money runs out, the servers go dark. A huge chunk of Palestinian journalistic history from the 90s is essentially locked away in physical copies in libraries like the Khalidi Library in Jerusalem or the British Library.
It’s a gap in our collective memory.
We talk about the "Jerusalem Times" sometimes in academic papers about Middle Eastern media studies, but the actual day-to-day reporting—the interviews with local artists, the gripes of shopkeepers in the Old City—is becoming harder to access. It’s a reminder that digital "permanence" is a lie if nobody pays the hosting fees.
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Distinguishing Fact from Fiction
There is a lot of confusion online. Let's clear some of it up.
- Is it the same as the Jerusalem Post? No. Not even close. The Post is a major Israeli daily. The Jerusalem Times was a Palestinian weekly.
- Is it still in print? No. It effectively ceased regular operations in the late 2000s as the political climate shifted and funding evaporated.
- Was it a government mouthpiece? While it supported the idea of Palestinian statehood, it often bumped heads with the Palestinian Authority. It tried to maintain a level of editorial independence that was quite rare for the region at the time.
The Editorial Stance: Peace vs. Reality
I remember talking to people who worked in that orbit. They were tired.
They were trying to promote a "two-state solution" narrative while the ground was literally shifting beneath them. Every time a new settlement was announced or a suicide bombing happened, the editorial team had to figure out how to report it to an international audience without losing their soul. They were often accused of being too moderate by their own community and too radical by the Israeli right.
It’s a lonely place to be.
The paper’s demise wasn't just about money. It was about the death of the era it represented. The Jerusalem Times was a product of hope. When the hope died, the paper followed.
The Legacy of Hanna Siniora’s Vision
Hanna Siniora didn’t just want a newspaper; he wanted an informed citizenry. He was a proponent of non-violent resistance long before it was a trendy topic in Western academia. The Jerusalem Times reflected that. It gave space to the Palestinian peace camp at a time when that camp was shrinking daily.
Even though the paper is gone, the need for it has never been higher. Today, Palestinian news in English is dominated by huge networks like Al Jazeera or social media activists. Those are great, but they lack the "local paper" feel that the Jerusalem Times had. There’s something about a weekly print edition that forces a different kind of reflection.
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Where Can You Find the Jerusalem Times Today?
If you are a researcher or just a history nerd, don't bother with a basic Google search. You won't find the full run there.
You need to look into specialized databases.
- The Library of Congress holds microfilm records.
- The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive has been working to digitize various publications, though they prioritize older, rarer materials.
- University Libraries in the Middle East, particularly Birzeit University, are your best bet for physical copies.
It’s worth the hunt. Reading those old issues feels like looking at a blueprint for a house that was never finished. You see the names of negotiators who are now retired or dead. You see advertisements for hotels that are now behind walls.
How to Support Local Journalism in the Region Now
Since the Jerusalem Times is no longer with us, how do you get that same kind of nuanced, local perspective? You have to look at the spiritual successors.
Publications like +972 Magazine (which is a joint Israeli-Palestinian venture) or The Palestine Chronicle carry some of that weight, though their tones are very different. Local news agencies like Ma’an News Agency offer English versions of their reports, which provides that essential "on the ground" feel that international outlets often miss.
Basically, if you want the truth about Jerusalem, you have to read three different sources and find the common thread. That’s what the Jerusalem Times tried to do under one roof. It failed because the world changed, but the effort was noble.
Actionable Insights for Researching Palestinian Media
If you’re trying to dig deeper into the history of the Jerusalem Times or Palestinian media in general, don't just rely on English sources.
- Cross-reference with Arabic sources: Use tools to search for "جريدة تايمز القدس" (Jerusalem Times) to see how it was perceived by the local Arabic-speaking population.
- Check NGO Reports: Many human rights organizations from the 1990s cited the Jerusalem Times in their annual reports. These citations often contain snippets of articles you can't find anywhere else.
- Look for Microfilm: Most major research universities have a "Middle East Studies" department. Ask their librarian specifically for Palestinian weeklies from the Oslo era.
- Interview the Veterans: Many former writers for the paper are still active in journalism or academia. Names like Daoud Kuttab or the Siniora family are still very much involved in the discourse. Reach out to them via LinkedIn or professional networks.
The story of the Jerusalem Times newspaper is a cautionary tale about the fragility of independent media in conflict zones. It’s a reminder that voices can be silenced not just by censors, but by the slow, grinding reality of economics and political exhaustion. Knowing it existed is the first step in understanding why its absence is so deeply felt today.