Fadi Elsalameen
Encyclopedia
Fadi Elsalameen is a prominent Palestinian youth leader, op-ed writer, blogger, commentator, and public speaker. Elsalameen is also fellow with the New America Foundation
's American Strategy Program. He was the director general of Palestine Note. Before that, he served as the director of Institutional Advancement at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) where he established the Development Department by securing the first foundation grant to the organization.
Elsalameen worked as a program adviser at the Imaginenations Group where he worked with teams of international development finance and youth experts to design investment strategies for youth in the Middle East and South America.
.
Elsalameen was invited personally by US President Bill Clinton
to attend the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005, and helped secure a commitment for a political risk insurance initiative to encourage investment in Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal at the time.
In recent months Elsalameen became a vocal critic of the current Palestinian government. In February, 2011 Elsalameen called for the resignation of Palestinian President Mamhmoud Abbas
and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
in an article he first published in Ma'an News.
Elsalameen is also part of a new non-partisan Palestinian youth movement that calls for reform in the Palestinian territories in a non-violent way. Writing for ''Time Magazine, Joe Klein wrote about Elsalameen and his involvement in the movement. He says: "El-Salameen has spent much of his time in the U.S. and has achieved a certain prominence—he is quietly charismatic, a world-class networker, the sort of person who is invited to international conferences—but he is now spending more time at home in Hebron, organizing the March 15 movement in the West Bank's largest city. 'I met some of the leaders of the Tahrir Square movement at a conference in Doha,' he tells me. 'They don't fit the usual profile of a 'youth leader.' They are low-key, well educated but not wealthy. They are figuring it out as they go along, trying to figure out what works.' His comments about the non-violent resistance among Palestinians were also highlighted in an article in the Economist''
The political prospects of Elsalameen were highlighted by American commentator MJ Rosenberg who predicted that he will run for president one day in this piece published on TPM cafe.
Elsalameen also calls for the use of green environment and technologies to resist the Israeli occupation as seen in his Huffington Post piece.
New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a non-profit public policy institute and think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, CA. It was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind and Walter Russell Mead....
's American Strategy Program. He was the director general of Palestine Note. Before that, he served as the director of Institutional Advancement at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) where he established the Development Department by securing the first foundation grant to the organization.
Elsalameen worked as a program adviser at the Imaginenations Group where he worked with teams of international development finance and youth experts to design investment strategies for youth in the Middle East and South America.
Political life
Elsalameen has been involved in the political arena at a young age. Since 1998, Elsalameen has been an active participant in the international organization Seeds of Peace participating in and lecturing at numerous leadership summits and conferences on topics related to Middle East youth, conflict resolution, and extremism. He was handpicked to take part in this organization by late Palestinian president Yasser ArafatYasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
.
Elsalameen was invited personally by US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to attend the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005, and helped secure a commitment for a political risk insurance initiative to encourage investment in Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal at the time.
In recent months Elsalameen became a vocal critic of the current Palestinian government. In February, 2011 Elsalameen called for the resignation of Palestinian President Mamhmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad is a Palestinian politician and Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority of the Palestinian National Authority. His first appointment, on 15 June 2007, which was justified by President Mahmoud Abbas on the basis of "national emergency", has not been confirmed by the...
in an article he first published in Ma'an News.
Elsalameen is also part of a new non-partisan Palestinian youth movement that calls for reform in the Palestinian territories in a non-violent way. Writing for ''Time Magazine, Joe Klein wrote about Elsalameen and his involvement in the movement. He says: "El-Salameen has spent much of his time in the U.S. and has achieved a certain prominence—he is quietly charismatic, a world-class networker, the sort of person who is invited to international conferences—but he is now spending more time at home in Hebron, organizing the March 15 movement in the West Bank's largest city. 'I met some of the leaders of the Tahrir Square movement at a conference in Doha,' he tells me. 'They don't fit the usual profile of a 'youth leader.' They are low-key, well educated but not wealthy. They are figuring it out as they go along, trying to figure out what works.' His comments about the non-violent resistance among Palestinians were also highlighted in an article in the Economist''
The political prospects of Elsalameen were highlighted by American commentator MJ Rosenberg who predicted that he will run for president one day in this piece published on TPM cafe.
Elsalameen also calls for the use of green environment and technologies to resist the Israeli occupation as seen in his Huffington Post piece.
Fund for Palestinian students
According to an interview with Haaretz newspaper, Elsalameen through the Fadi Elsalameen fund for students in need (Arabic: صندوق فادي السلامين للطالب المحتاج), funds around 30 Palestinian students annually to go to Hebron University (Arabic:جامعة الخليل) and Al-Quds University(Arabic:جامعة القدس) where they focus on fields of studies such as Economics, Engineering, and Medicine.Education
Elsalameen received with the help of an American family a full scholarship to The Gunnery private boarding school in Washington, Connecticut. Later he graduated from Earlham College with a B.S. in biochemistry and political science and then received a Masters in International Relations and Economics with a specialization in China Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Elsalameen speaks Arabic, Hebrew, English, French, and Mandarin-Chinese.Personal life
Elsalameen is the oldest of nine children. He is married to Ashley Elsalameen and lives between Hebron in the Palestinian territories with his extended family and Washington, DC. His grandfather, Hussein Nassar Elsalameen, was the vice mayor of Assamoua, (Arabic: السموع) a small town in southern Hebron and was one of the founders of the current municipality. He was also the Mukhtar(Arabic:المختار) of the Elsalameen tribe in Palestine. The Elsalameen tribe are scattered by the thousands in areas such as Palestine,Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.External links
- Profile at New America FoundationNew America FoundationThe New America Foundation is a non-profit public policy institute and think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, CA. It was founded in 1999 by Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, Michael Lind and Walter Russell Mead....
- Fadi Elsalameen's public Facebook page
- Fadi Elsalameen's Huffington Post articles.
- Fadi Elsalameen Twitter feed