This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference.
Huwaida Arraf is a first generation Palestinian-American. The oldest of five children, she was born and raised in Detroit, MI. In 1998, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan with majors in Political Science, Arabic and Hebrew & Judaic Studies. While in college, she co-founded and facilitated an Arab-Jewish dialogue group on campus and participated in numerous other co-existence and conflict resolution programs. Huwaida spent her junior year abroad, studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem – the only Arab on the program. After graduation, Huwaida worked to promote the rights of Arab-Americans in her position at the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC. In Spring 2000, Huwaida accepted a job as a Program Coordinator in Jerusalem with Seeds of Peace – an American-based non-profit organization focused on working with youth from regions of conflict, including the Middle East, Cyprus and the Balkans. Huwaida left her job with Seeds of Peace a year later after becoming more involved in active resistance to the Israeli occupation forces and policies. With other Palestinian and international activists, she co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in April, 2001. [Read more…]