Bahaa is a 23 year old Palestinian journalism student at the London City University and from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. He is part of the prestigious Olive Tree program which takes the best Israeli and Palestinian scholars and provides them with a full scholarship. Before London, he studied at Norwich and loved that immersion in English culture and letters. Bahaa is the eldest of six children and journalism is in his blood, with his father being a journalist too. Part of the reason Bahaa applied to NSL was because he wanted to share the same experience this father had in Washington when he was a young man, an experience that changed his life. Bahaa has also had extensive experience in leadership and worked with Israeli and Palestinian dialog groups in Sweden, participated in Sports Under Siege and led youth workshops for social change in the West Bank. His family have suffered personally from the conflict and Bahaa believes that if only more young people got a chance to lead, that that would be the beginning of a new hope for peace.
In 2011, Bahaa was placed in the office of the late Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-New Jersey).
Follow NSL