Valentina Azarova
Valentina Azarova is an international legal academic and practitioner working at the intersection of power, law, and violence, with over 15 years of experience advising social and liberation movements, NGOs, international and inter-governmental organizations and governments, primarily in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. She holds a PhD in law from NUI Galway’s Irish Centre for Human Rights and currently teaches transnational lawyering and human rights practice at different universities and is also a Research Fellow at the Manchester International Law Centre, University of Manchester. Valentina’s current research concerns practices and processes reproduction of (ir)responsibility in/by international law, and the relation between social justice struggles, accountability practices and the law.
Tareq Baconi
Tareq Baconi serves as the president of the board of Al-Shabaka. He was Al-Shabaka’s US Policy Fellow from 2016 – 2017. Tareq is the former senior analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict at the International Crisis Group, based in Ramallah, and the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford University Press, 2018). Tareq’s writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books, the Washington Post, among others, and he is a frequent commentator in regional and international media. He is the book review editor for the Journal of Palestine Studies.
Tamara Ben-Halim
Al-Shabaka Policy Member Tamara Ben-Halim holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and an MA in Modern European Languages from the University of Edinburgh. Tamara has worked in non-profit and civil society for over 6 years, focusing on creative solutions to problems of social injustice, community mobilisation, and communication and outreach. She co-founded and led the international effort, Cycling4Gaza, for many years. She has produced several short films, including her documentary film Ain El Hilweh, which was nominated for an award at the California Arab Film Festival in 2011.
Tahani Mustafa
Tahani Mustafa is the Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group, where she works on issues including security, and socio-political and legal governance in the West bank. She holds a PhD in politics and international studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She is based between the UK, Jordan, and Palestine.
Shatha Abdulsamad
Shatha Abdulsamad is pursuing her MA in International Human Rights Law and Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo. She previously worked as a political officer for the British Consulate General in Jerusalem and as programme manager at the German think-tank Friedrich-Ebert Foundation. Her field of expertise includes political analysis, human rights, and strategic political communication. She holds a higher diploma in Strategic and Political Communication from Birzeit University, a master’s degree in Business Management from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from Birzeit University.
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.
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.
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.
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.
