Sara Husseini
Sara Husseini is the Director of the British Palestinian Committee, an independent voice on British policy towards Palestine. In previous roles, Sara has served as an advisor to senior Palestinian officials across a number of offices, including the Secretary-General of the PLO and the Palestinian Ambassador to Germany. She has supported the work of several civil society organizations, both in Palestine and in the Diaspora, and currently sits on the boards of BuildPalestine, the Britain Palestine Media Centre, and The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. Sara holds a BA in German Studies and European History, a master’s in Islamic Studies, and a Ph.D. in early Christian-Muslim relations, all from the University of Birmingham.
Samer Abdelnour
Samer Abdelnour is an academic and activist. He co-founded Al-Shabaka in 2009 and served as a founding board member until 2016.
Samah Sabawi
Samah Sabawi is a political commentator, author and playwright. She is a member of the board of directors for the National Council on Canada Arab Relations (NCCAR). Sabawi wrote and produced Cries from the Land (Canada 2003), Three Wishes (Canada 2008) andTales of a City by the Sea (Palestine & Australia 2014). Her past work includes being public advocate for Australians for Palestine, Executive Director for the National Council on Canada Arab Relations (NCCAR) and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Canadian Foreign Service Institute’s Centre for Intercultural Learning.
Samar Batrawi
Samar Batrawi is a writer, editor and policy analyst. She is interested in identity politics and social movements, specifically those that interact with the question of Palestine. She has a PhD in Critical Security Studies from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She has previously worked for the Clingendael Institute in The Hague and King’s College London. Her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Middle East Eye, Guernica, and Fikra Magazine.
Salma Karmi-Ayyoub
Al-Shabaka Policy Member Salma Karmi-Ayyoub is a barrister specialising in criminal law. She provides legal consultancy and advice services to individuals, non-governmental organizations and solicitors’ firms on issues related to criminal and human rights law. From 2009 until 2012 she headed an international litigation project at the Palestinian human rights organisation Al Haq where she is currently a legal consultant focusing on issues related to corporate responsibility for human rights violations. Salma is Chair of the legal charity, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. Her articles have appeared in the London Review of Books, The Huffington Post and The Nation, among other publications.
Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies in the Department of History at Columbia University. He is past President of the Middle East Studies Association, was an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the 1991-1993 Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, and is the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Khalidi is the author of Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (2013); Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold War in the Middle East (2009); The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006); Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East (2004); Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1997); Under Siege: PLO Decision-making during the 1982 War (1986); and British Policy towards Syria and Palestine, 1906-1914 (1980). He has written over ninety articles on aspects of Middle Eastern history.
Rabab Abdulhadi
Rabab Abdulhadi is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Associate Professor of Race and Resistance Studies, and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative at San Francisco State University. She is a long-time feminist activist and scholar who has contributed to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and the well-being of Palestinian women. From 1982 to 1988, she was the Director of Political and International Relations at the Middle East Research Center in New York.
Osamah Khalil
Osamah Khalil is a co-founder of Al-Shabaka. He is an Associate Professor of History at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Khalil is the author of America’s Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and the Rise of the National Security State (Harvard University Press, 2016).
Omar Yousef Shehabi
Al-Shabaka Policy Member Omar Yousef Shehabi is the founder of Palestine Works, a nonprofit organization which produces alternative and effective advocacy for Palestinian rights. He has served as a legal officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team, and an adjunct lecturer in international law at Birzeit University. Previously, he worked as a labor lawyer in the United States, representing labor unions and employees. His current research interests include historical and contemporary Palestinian diplomatic and consular practice.
