People are the heartbeat of our organization. We believe that every individual has the potential and ability to transform themselves, their community, and the world.
Every person we work with - staff, board, volunteers, delegates, partners, and donors - has something to learn and something to teach. We invite you to join our team!
mEET OUR STAFF
Nancy
Executive Director
Born in the UK to Palestinian parents, Nancy was raised and educated in South London, where she studied Business, Finance, and Management. After moving to New York in her early 20s, she pursued a career in entertainment as a radio and event host for over 13 years and managed various artists in the music industry. During this time, she worked in the Hospitality and Healthcare industries, most recently at the Center for Innovation in Mental Health at the School of Public Health at CUNY. In 2009, Nancy co-founded Existence Is Resistance— a grassroots, not for profit, voluntary organization that took numerous delegations to Palestine/48, conducting workshops with children in refugee camps as well as organizing hundreds of events and conferences in the US and Europe. She has worked with and built strong ties with various movements across the board and on the ground in Palestine.
Moureen
Programs & Operations Coordinator
Moureen is a Palestinian, born and raised in Texas, where she eventually studied cultural anthropology. She has been involved in grassroots Palestine solidarity work since 2014 locally. She left her job in the health insurance sector to pursue education around Palestine and related topics. Her organizing work, education, and experience in oral history projects intersected to offer an opportunity to produce her 2021 oral history film on themes of identity and belonging called Palestinian Stories from Texas, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Moureen has been involved coordinating educational and fundraising events in Texas, and recently launched Saha, a food pop-up that shares traditional Palestinian food, while providing education about the significance of Palestinian food and land to the culture.
Meet Our Board
We are only as strong collectively as we are individually. At Eyewitness Palestine, we seek to strengthen each other as individuals, knowing that doing so strengthens us as a collective. Each member of Eyewitness Palestine's Board of Directors is a leader, a representative, and a partner in our work.
Jayeesha
Co-Chair
Jayeesha is a tri-coastal, nearly tri-lingual Bengali-American interdisciplinary artist, cultural organizer and pop-ed facilitator. She is a co-founding member of Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative, galvanizing voices and experiences from across the Gulf South to the Global South working towards a "just transition" for our people and the planet. She serves as a voting member for Alternate Roots, and on the national steering committee for the Climate Justice Alliance. Jayeesha is an avid traveler, home chef, live music lover, and adores being near (or in) any body of water. She was born in Mobile, raised in New York, aged in Oakland and is deeply grateful to call New Orleans home.
Cheryl
Co-Chair
Cheryl is a Lebanese American community activist and clinical social worker who specializes in the treatment of trauma. She spent her entire career in community mental health fostering systemic change through the building of critical resources for and with underserved communities. She has been involved in justice for Palestine movements for many years. Now semi-retired, Cheryl has found even more time to devote to social activism and believes that the arc is now finally turning more strongly towards justice for Palestine. Cheryl is happy to have found a political home in Eyewitness Palestine that centers personal connection as a primary means to build understanding and deepen mutual commitment for solidarity with Palestine. Cheryl is an avid gardener of food and flowers and prides herself on growing productive fig trees in the Hudson Valley of New York which is now her home.
Harry
Secretary
A lifelong public school special education teacher in New York, Harry recently retired after 33 years of work with students, families, and educational labor organizing. An advocate for anti-racist and community-based education, he remains committed to neighborhood and local activism. Since retiring, Harry has turned to more global social justice pursuits. As coordinator for the Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Westchester, NY, he has worked to build alliances with local and national organizations that seek justice and dignity for Palestinians both in Palestine and in the diaspora. He believes that Jewish opposition to occupation and apartheid in this country adds a significant voice to the movement to free Palestine. A former musician and an avid hiker, Harry seeks beauty and peace in nature, music, and in the traditional Chinese health arts.
Rami
Finance Committee
Raised in the Palestinian city of Hebron, Rami is a financial services professional with an Investment firm in Chicago. He has worked with the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, California and the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York. Rami received his B.A. from Hebron University in 2002 and his Master’s in Business Administration in Global Finance from Alaska Pacific University in 2006. He previously served on Eyewitness Palestine's Board of Directors from 2010 until 2014 and has been on several delegations.
Paula
Personnel Committee
Paula is an employment discrimination and civil rights attorney who practices in the Chicagoland area. She volunteers with a number of social justice groups that work on issues relating to policing, Black youth, and also Palestinian civil rights. Paula is actively involved with United Methodists for Kairos Response, Friends of Sabeel North America, Black 4 Palestine, and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Paula received her Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law. She was an Eyewitness Palestine delegate in 2008.
Susan
Fundraising Committee (Chair)
A strong believer in the power of change through experience and especially through travel to affected communities, Susan first traveled with Eyewitness Palestine in 2013. In 2017 she bicycled the length of the West Bank deepening her understanding of the joys and challenges of everyday life under occupation. A founding member of the New Haven chapter of Jewish Voice For Peace, she has served on the board of the New Haven León Sister City Project.
Aubrey
Communications Committee
Aubrey is a poet and an advocate for sustainable food systems. She lives in Los Angeles where she works as a director in a nonprofit that expands food access and promotes local agriculture. Aubrey got her start in the nonprofit world writing grant proposals in Cairo, Egypt. She has lived throughout the Middle East and studied falconry in Abu Dhabi, non-violent resistance in Palestine, and the art of rolling couscous by hand in Morocco. Aubrey has been passionate about Palestinian liberation since her first visit to Bethlehem in the year 2000.
Joe
Personnel/Hiring Committee
Joe was the Director of Interfaith Peace-Builders (now Eyewitness Palestine) beginning in 2001 and “retired” from IFPB in 2011 as co-director. Joe was Professor of Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, and then Adjunct Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University in Washington, DC. While in Greensboro, he was involved in various efforts on racial and economic justice, and in DC, he worked closely with Nonviolence International as a volunteer and staff member. He has now retired to Chapel Hill, NC.
Khaled
Treasurer
Born in Palestine, Khaled grew up in Rama village in the upper Galilee. In 1997, he moved to Norway to study and moved back two years later. Khaled's activism began when he refused to serve in the Israeli Army, a requirement imposed on him as a Druze male holding Israeli citizenship. He was released after a two-month sentence then moved to Jerusalem where he studied law at the Hebrew University. In 2006, he co-founded The Orient Institute, a center that helped Palestinians achieve educational and academic success. Khaled co-founded Grassroots Al-Quds in 2010, which he directed for 11 years. He is also co-founder of Urfod (refuse), a movement of Druze objectors to the army service imposed on them. Today, he leads the Public Narrative Committe, which combats the false narrative Israel promotes about the Druze in Palestine. After 24 years in Jerusalem, Khaled moved temporarily to NYC in 2022 for professional and family reasons.
Sarah
Away
Sarah is a community organizer and advocate for affordable housing and racial equity, moving from Washington, DC to the Bay Area in 2019. She worked in the West Bank from 2006-2008 and again in 2010, reporting Israeli human rights abuses and supporting Palestinian communities leading nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. Sarah holds an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution and authored a chapter in the book Nonviolent Resistance in the Second Intifada: Activism and Advocacy. Previously serving on Eyewitness Palestine’s board for 6 years, she also joined delegations in 2017 and 2018.
Meet Our Delegates
Our delegates are the core of our work. Delegates represent Eyewitness Palestine in Palestine/Israel, in the movement for Palestinian rights, and in their communities. They are donors, volunteers, partners, and friends. Here are profiles and interviews with some of them:
Our Delegates Blog
