Nadim Bawalsa

Nadim Bawalsa is Al-Shabaka’s Commissioning Editor. He is a historian of modern Palestine and has written on the emergence of Palestinian diaspora communities across Latin America in the early twentieth century. His work appeared in the Jerusalem Quarterly, the Journal of Palestine Studies, and NACLA Report on the Americas. He earned a joint doctorate in…

Dana Farraj is a legal researcher and has been a certified lawyer at the Palestinian Bar Association since 2019. She obtained her master’s degree in International Humanitarian Law from Aix-Marseille University and her bachelor’s degree in law from Birzeit University. Her research interests include refugee law, human rights law and international criminal law.

Tahani Mustafa is currently an ESRC postdoctoral fellow at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) Department of International Relations. She is expanding her research on security governance in the Middle East. Based between the UK, Jordan and Palestine/Israel, she previously worked within the fields of development and security governance in the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Mohammed Hamarsha is Al-Shabaka’s Communications Specialist. He is a journalist with extensive experience working for international news outlets and media organizations in various capacities, covering geopolitics across the Middle East and Latin America. His work and commentaries have appeared in Al-Jazeera, The BBC, Middle East Eye, teleSUR, and North American Congress in Latin America (NACLA) among…

Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.

Maha Abdallah is a senior legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, focusing on business and human rights and corporate accountability in occupied territory and conflict-affected settings.

Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst Halah Ahmad completed her Master’s in Public Policy at Cambridge University as the Lionel de Jersey Harvard Scholar at Emmanuel College. She has conducted strategic policy research for government agencies and NGOs in Greece, Albania, Berlin, the West Bank, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston. She currently leads policy and public relations work at the Jain Family Institute, an applied social science research institute based in New York City. Her own research covers topics of equitable development and social welfare, ranging from urban planning and tourism, to displacement, housing, and economic justice. Halah completed her undergraduate degree with honors in comparative religion and sociology at Harvard.

Dr. Ardi Imseis is Assistant Professor of Law, Queen’s University, where he specializes in public international law. Between 2002 and 2014, he served in senior legal and policy capacities with UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territory. He has provided expert testimony to the UN Security Council, members of the UK House of Lords and the French Senat. His scholarship has appeared in a wide array of international journals, including the American Journal of International Law, the Harvard International Law Journal, and the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. He is outgoing Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Yearbook of International Law (2008-2019), and former Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Human Rights Fellow, Columbia Law School.

Mazen Arafat has worked in various banking and investment management roles in London for two decades. He was previously involved in economic development projects in Palestine and continues to have research and policy interest in the subject. Mazen is a trustee of Friends of Birzeit University and a board member of Zaytoun, a British social company importing Palestinian products. He is also engaged with the work of Medical Aid for Palestinians. Mazen has long supported Al-Shabaka’s work and serves on its Development Committee. He holds a BA in Economics and an MPhil in Political Science.

Dyala Hamzah is an associate professor of Arab History at the University of Montreal. She served as editor of the 2013 Routledge volume The Making of the Arab Intellectual and is author of the forthcoming text, Muhammad Rashid Rida ou le Tournant Salafiste (CNRS Éditions, 2019). Dyala has published with Princeton and Oxford University Presses, as well as in academic journals including CSAAME, REMMM and Égypte-Monde Arabe. She is currently conducting a project on Mandate Palestine and Arab Nationalism. Her upcoming Palestine. Le Sionisme est-il réformable? is under contract with Presses de l’Université de Montréal (PUM, 2020).