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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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. -
The constant friction between Israelis and Palestinians has taken its toll on "normalization" efforts between the two sides. Nowadays, many Palestinians consider it a dirty word. -
You're not supposed to be able to buy cement commercially in Gaza, but some is being sold illicitly. The material is crucial for replacing homes and shops destroyed in the summer war. -
Palestinian officials will ask international donors for $4 billion to help rebuild Gaza after the recent war. That was the third deadly conflict in 6 years between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
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Palestinian kids in Gaza went back to school this past week in buildings damaged by the war, with children homeless and traumatized, and more than the usual overcrowding they face every year. -
Hamas and Israel stopped fighting weeks ago. But feuding continues between the two main factions on the Palestinian side — Hamas and Fatah. Their battle has an impact on relations with Israel as well.
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The military is still looking into many of the cases, but announced this week that criminal investigations have been filed so far in five episodes. -
The brother and mother of a Hamas fighter who was killed in a tunnel recall his path into militancy. They're pleased he died for what they consider a good cause.
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Fighting in Gaza took an ominous turn Friday, as a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire fell apart and the Israeli military announced its belief that one of its soldiers was captured by Hamas militants.
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A U.N. spokesman said Israeli tank shells hit the school Wednesday, killing 15 Palestinians and wounding 90. The agency is housing scores of people displaced by the fighting in schools across Gaza.