Bassam Aramin

Palestinian peace activist

Bassam Aramin is a Palestinian peace activist and the co-director of Parents Circle – Families Forum, an organisation that brings together Palestinian and Israeli families affected by the conflict. As a young man, he was involved in the resistance against Israel and was sentenced to seven years in prison for attacking Israeli soldiers. According to Aramin, it was during this time that he came to understand that the Israeli oppression is, among other things, a consequence of the Holocaust. He decided to try to understand more about the “enemy side”, and so after his release he went to the United Kingdom to study the history of the Holocaust. In 2007 Aramin’s ten-year-old daughter Abir was shot dead by a member of the Israeli Border Police. Despite this irreplaceable loss, he decided to become a peace activist. Together with Israeli Rami Elhanan, with whom he shares both the painful experience of losing a daughter as well as an unshakable friendship, Aramin travels around the world, speaking at conferences, schools, and public forums. He is a key figure in the campaign to overcome hatred, promote dialogue, and end the occupation, and he believes that humanity and understanding can bring an end to conflict.