HUWAIDA ARRAF
Board Director

Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian American activist and lawyer who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led organization using non-violent protests and international pressure to support Palestinians. Arraf majored in Arabic and Judaic studies and political science at the University of Michigan. She later earned a Juris Doctor from American University's Washington College of Law. Her focus was on international human rights and humanitarian law, with a particular interest in war crimes prosecution.

As a law student, Arraf conducted research for the Public International Law and Policy Group, which provides pro bono legal assistance to governments involved in conflicts. Arraf also worked with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law, where she represented clients before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on issues ranging from indigenous lands rights to cross-border abductions and irregular rendition.

Arraf was the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, the organization behind the Gaza Freedom Flotillas, a series of groups of ships carrying Pro-Palestinian activists that were organized to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. She was aboard the 2008 Free Gaza boats as well as the 2010 flotilla that was raided by Israeli commandos on May 31.

Arraf co-authored the book: "Peace Under Fire: Israel, Palestine, and the International Solidarity Movement."

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