Board Members

Samer Abdelnour
Samer Abdelnour is completing a PhD in Management at the London School of Economics. His doctoral research examines NGOs and humanitarian response, and the role of community and collective enterprise in postwar peace-building and development in Sudan. Since 2005 Samer has managed applied research projects across Sudan (Darfur, Southern Sudan, Blue Nile).

Sam Bahour 
Sam Bahour does business consulting as Applied Information Management (AIM), specializing in business development with a niche focus on the information technology sector and start-ups.  He helped establish PALTEL and the PLAZA Shopping Center. Until recently, he served on the board of trustees of Birzeit University and was the University’s treasurer.  He is also a Director at the Arab Islamic Bank and the community foundation Dalia Association.  Bahour is co-editor of HOMELAND: Oral History of Palestine and Palestinians (Olive Branch Press). 

Nadia Hijab
Nadia Hijab is a co-founder of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network and serves as its pro bono director . She is a frequent public speaker and media commentator and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies. Hijab’s first book, Womanpower: The Arab debate on women at work was published by Cambridge University Press and she co-authored Citizens Apart: A Portrait of the Palestinians in Israel (I.B. Tauris).

Osamah Khalil
Osamah Khalil is a co-founder and former co-director of Al-Shabaka. He is Assistant Professor of U.S. and Middle East History at Syracuse University.

Grace Said
Grace Said is a long-time advocate of Palestinian human rights. She is a member of the Steering Committee of Friends of Sabeel, North America and treasurer of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. She has in the past served on the boards of Trans-Arab Research Institute and the Arab-American University Graduates. She organized a major Sabeel conference in Washington DC in October 2009.