Palestinian Photographer Khalil Raad With Family in Early 20th Century

• CrossFireArabia
• August 22, 2026

Palestinian littérateur Newspaper (صحيفة المثقف الفلسطيني)

A rare photograph of the Palestinian photographer Khalil Raad with his family in the early 20th century.

Khalil Raad is considered one of the first Palestinian photographers to document life in Palestine at the end of the Ottoman era and during the British Mandate. His collection of more than 3,000 photographs documents social life in Palestinian cities and villages. Raad began his work from a studio he established on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem in 1890, which was destroyed by Zionist militias. He managed to save 1,230 of the 3,000 photographs in the studio with the help of a friend from Italy who was living in Jaffa.