Emily Harris
International Correspondent Emily Harris is based in Jerusalem as part of NPR's Mideast team. Her post covers news related to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She began this role in March of 2013.
Over her career, Harris has served in multiple roles within public media. She first joined NPR in 2000, as a general assignment reporter. A prolific reporter often filing two stories a day, Harris covered major stories including 9/11 and its aftermath, including the impact on the airline industry; and the anthrax attacks. She also covered how policies set in Washington are implemented across the country.
In 2002, Harris worked as a Special Correspondent on NOW with Bill Moyer, focusing on investigative storytelling. In 2003 Harris became NPR's Berlin Correspondent, covering Central and Eastern Europe. In that role, she reported regularly from Iraq, leading her to be a key member of the NPR team awarded a 2005 Peabody Award for coverage of the region.
Harris left NPR in December 2007 to become a host for a live daily program, Think Out Loud, on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Under her leadership Harris's team received three back to back Gracie Awards for Outstanding Talk Show, and a share in OPB's 2009 Peabody Award for the series "Hard Times." Harris's other awards include the RIAS Berlin Commission's first-place radio award in 2007 and second-place in 2006. She was a John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University in 2005-2006.
A seasoned reporter, she was asked to help train young journalist through NPR's "Next Generation" program. She also served as editorial director for Journalism Accelerator, a project to bring journalists together to share ideas and experiences; and was a writer-in-residence teaching radio writing to high school students.
One of the aspects of her work that most intrigues her is why people change their minds and what inspires them to do so.
Outside of work, Harris has drafted a screenplay about the Iraq war and for another project is collecting stories about the most difficult parts of parenting.
She has a B.A. in Russian Studies from Yale University.
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Sportscaster-turned-politician Zouheir Bahloul is one of the few Arab citizens of Israel to ever run for parliament on the ticket of the Labor Party, which is a mainstream Jewish party. During the war in Gaza last summer, Bahloul appeared as a commentator on Israeli news programs, trying to bridge the divide between Israeli Arabs and Jews.
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French Jews, many with roots in North Africa, have immigrated to Israel since the country's founding. Unlike previous generations, the latest wave of arrivals is retaining more of its French identity. -
As a year of conflict in the Mideast comes to a close, we look back at how Israeli and Palestinian parents explained the Gaza war to their children as the rockets flew.
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The two leading Palestinian factions recently agreed to end a feud and work together. But in the Gaza Strip, the wounds have not healed from a nasty bout of infighting in 2007. -
Israel will hold parliamentary elections in March after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke up his cabinet and asked voters for a new mandate.
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Israel was founded as a homeland for the Jewish people. But a proposal to define it in law as a Jewish state has become a hot-button political issue. Opponents say it's a undemocratic mix of religion and law.
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After a deadly attack by a Palestinian militant last month, Israel blew up his apartment. Israel says the aim is deterrence, while others call it collective punishment. -
Jordan is formally in charge of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa compound — on the hilltop contested by Jews and Muslims — and the kingdom is nervous that tensions could ignite a broad conflict.
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So far, it's just scattered unrest. But with peace talks in the deep freeze and the recent scuffling over Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, there's talk about the prospects of another intifada. -
A Palestinian driver crashed into Israeli pedestrians, killing one, for the second time in weeks. Tensions are rising in Jerusalem over the most inflammatory issue between Israelis and Palestinians — the Old City Hill that is holy to both sides.
