Another Take: The meaning of Easter in Palestine
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on March 29, 2024. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
Easter holds special meaning for Christian Palestinians. For Good Friday, we speak to a Palestinian pastor raised in Bethlehem who underlines the parallels between the Israeli oppression of his people and the crucifixion of Jesus at the center of his faith.
In this episode:
- Reverend Dr. Munther Isaac (@MuntherIsaac), Evangelical Lutheran Pastor in Bethlehem
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Chloe K. Li. The original production team was Khaled Soltan, Zaina Badr, Miranda Lynn, Amy Walters, Ashish Malhotra, Chloe K. Lee, David Enders, Faranisa Kampana, Nigeen Oliyai, Sarí el-Khalili, Sonia Bagat and our host Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Andrew Greiner is lead of audience engagement. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:10.2 | Hi, I'm Chloe Kaylee, and this is another take, where we dive into the archives. |
| 0:17.3 | For the first time on Easter, Palestinian Christians won't be able to access the Church of the Holy Sepulcure in Jerusalem. |
| 0:26.9 | Israel closed off the church when the U.S. and Israel first launched their attack on Iran. |
| 0:33.0 | The church is known to be the site where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. |
| 0:40.3 | In this episode, we spoke to a pastor in the West Bank about what it's like to live under occupation and genocide during the Christian Holy Week. |
| 0:51.3 | This episode originally aired on March 29th, 2024. |
| 0:57.1 | All references are from that time. |
| 1:14.9 | Today, the meaning of Easter in Palestine. |
| 1:19.0 | As many Christians around the world mark the holiday Good Friday, |
| 1:21.9 | we speak to a pastor in Bethlehem. |
| 1:26.6 | In Palestine, we say that our Good Friday has lasted way too long. I'm Malika Bilal and this is the take. |
| 1:39.3 | So my name is Wunder Ishaq and I'm the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church |
| 1:45.4 | here in Bethlehem in Palestine, and I'm also the academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College. |
| 1:51.5 | Which makes you Reverend Dr. Munder Ishaq, and it's a pleasure to have you. Welcome to the |
| 1:57.0 | Take. So, Reverend, I want to start at the beginning because you grew up in Bethlehem |
| 2:02.8 | where Jesus is believed to have been born, |
| 2:05.8 | but I've heard you mention that living in the birthplace of Jesus |
| 2:09.5 | isn't the first thing that comes to mind |
| 2:12.5 | when you're asked what it was like growing up there. |
| 2:16.7 | What is the first thing that comes to mind? |
| 2:22.3 | The occupation defines a lot of our reality. |
... |
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