Huwaida Arraf

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Arraf was born in Detroit in 1976 to Palestinian Christian parents, a mother from Beit Sahour in the West Bank and a father from the Galilee village of Mi'ilya, who had left the region because of the violence there. She grew up in Detroit, visiting relatives in the Middle East as a child. At the University of Michigan she majored in Arabic, Judaic studies and political science, then studied for a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and earned a law degree focused on international human rights at American University in Washington. In April 2001 she co-founded the International Solidarity Movement, which brings international volunteers to the occupied Palestinian territories for nonviolent direct action. She later chaired the Free Gaza Movement and sailed with the 2008 and 2010 Gaza flotillas. Back in Michigan, she ran for Congress in 2022.

Highlights

1. Co-founded the International Solidarity Movement, April 2001
2. Chaired the Free Gaza Movement
3. Took part in the 2008 and 2010 Gaza flotillas
4. Law degree in international human rights law, American University