Yousef Bashir

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Yousef Bashir (born 1989) is a Palestinian-American author and peace activist.

Bashir was born in and grew up in the Gaza Strip.^[1][2] His father, Khalil Bashir, was the headmaster of the German school in Gaza.^[3] Bashir's parents stressed nonviolence as a form of resistance,^[4] and told him that hatred would not lead to peace.^[1]

His family's home was occupied by Israeli soldiers in 2000, during the Second Intifada, due to its proximity to the religious settlement of Kfar Darom.^[1][5] Although given the opportunity to leave, the Bashir family was determined to stay, knowing they likely would not be able to return to their property if they left.^[5] The soldiers destroyed the family's greenhouses and orchards and forced his family (Bashir, his parents, grandmother, and seven siblings)^[3] to sleep in the living room, while the soldiers used the second and third floors of the house.^[1][2][5] That year, Bashir's brother, Yazen, was shot non-fatally by soldiers while putting out a fire in the family's garden.^[3][5]

Bashir was shot by an Israeli soldier on February 18, 2004, at age 15, resulting in a spinal injury.^[1][2] The shooting occurred at Bashir's home, while the family was saying goodbye to UN staffers who were visiting.^[3][5] Although the Israeli army took responsibility for the shooting, they did not provide an explanation as to why it happened.^[5] He was brought to a hospital in a UN car.^[6][7] Because the local hospital did not have the resources to treat him,^[2] Bashir was brought to a hospital in Tel HaShomer, Israel, where he formed connections with some of the Israeli healthcare workers who treated him.^[1] After four months in the hospital, he was transferred to Shikum Yiladem, a rehabilitation center where he lived and attended physical therapy with 12 Israeli children, whom he also made connections with over the sixteen months he spent there.^[2][8] By the end of his stay, Bashir was able to walk again, and he returned to his family home in Gaza.^[1]

In 2005, Bashir attended an American summer camp in Maine run by Seeds of Peace.^[5][8] The experience made Bashir decide he wanted to pursue his education in the United States.^[8] His family regained full control of their home in September 2005.^[5]

Following rehabilitation for his injury, Bashir chose to attend a Quaker high school in Ramallah.^[8] However, he remained interested in studying in the United States, and in 2006, at age 16, he moved to the US, where he attended school at Wasatch Academy in Utah.^[2][4][8]

Bashir earned his undergraduate degree in international studies at Northeastern University in Boston, although he had originally hoped to attend Brandeis University.^[8][7] He was able to attend Brandeis for graduate school, where he received a master’s degree in Conflict and Coexistence.^[6][8]

As of 2023, Bashir is finishing a Ph.D. in international affairs at Johns Hopkins University.^[1]

In 2009, Bashir's father died. Bashir was inspired to write a memoir based on his childhood experiences and his father's teachings on nonviolence.^[4] In 2018, Bashir published a memoir, The Words of My Father: Love and Pain in Palestine, in the United Kingdom.^[3] In 2018, the Times Literary Supplement included the memoir on its Books of the Year list.^[3] In a review for the Jewish Book Council, Ada Brunstein of the MIT Press noted the omission of any "exploration of the role or methods of Palestinian leadership."^[9]

In 2014, Bashir expressed interest in becoming a diplomat and returning to Gaza in that role.^[6] In 2017, Bashir interned on Capitol Hill for Representative Gerald Connolly.^[7][8] At the time, he expressed interest in working on Capitol Hill full-time as a foreign affairs advisor.^[7] He was later hired as an intern for Senator Bernie Sanders.^[10]

Bashir has written for The Forward^[4] and The New York Times,^[11] and has spoken with MSNBC.^[12] He has lobbied for Palestinian interests and spoken to pro-Israel organizations, including AIPAC, and to Jewish audiences about his personal experiences and to make the case for peace.^[10][13]

As of 2022, Bashir was Director of Research & Operations for the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.^[14]

Bashir became a U.S. citizen in 2019, after applying in 2017.^[4][8] As of 2017, Bashir had not visited Gaza since he left in 2006, out of fear that he would be unable to leave again.^[8] Bashir lives in Washington, D.C.^[1]