Sumaya Farhat Naser is a Palestinian Christian

Palestinian Christian

Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...

 peace activist

Peace activist

This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...

 in the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

.

She attended Talitha Kumi, a boarding school in Beit Jala

Beit Jala

Beit Jala is an Arab Christian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the West Bank. Beit Jala is located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem, at altitude...

 which was founded by Lutheran deaconesses in the 19th century. After gaining her university entrance qualification, she studied biology, geography and education at the University of Hamburg

University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

, Germany and received a doctor's degree in applied botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

.

Between 1982 and 1997 she was a university lecturer in botany and ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 at the Palestinian Birzeit University

Birzeit University

Birzeit University is a university located in Birzeit near Ramallah, Palestinian territories. BZU is among the foremost tertiary educational institutes in the Palestinian territories and has played a significant role in the Palestinian political dialogue.- History :The institution was originally...

 north of Ramallah

Ramallah

Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...

. Between 1997 and 2001 she was the manager of the Palestinian Jerusalem Center for Women, working for peace together with the Israeli group Bat Shalom

Bat Shalom

Bat Shalom is one of the organizations of the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace. Bat Shalom is a feminist grassroots organization of Jewish and Palestinian Israeli women working together towards peace, a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, respect for human rights, and an equal...

.

Sumaya Farhat-Naser is known for her clear expressions of opinion in the media, and particularly for her various projects, in which she motivates Palestinian women to work on a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Publications

• Thymian und Steine (autobiography), Lenos Verlag, Basel 1995, ISBN 3-85787-657-3
• Daughter of the Olive Trees, Lenos Verlag, Basel 2002, ISBN 3-85787-326-4
• Disteln im Weinberg. Tagebuch aus Palästina, Lenos, Basel 2007, ISBN 978-3-85787-716-2

Awards

• 1989 Honorary Doctorate from the Theological Faculty of the University of Münster
  University of Münster
  The University of Münster is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities...
  
  , Germany
• 1995 Bruno-Kreisky-Award
  Bruno Kreisky Award
  The Bruno Kreisky Award is a biennial award created in October 1976 on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Bruno Kreisky. The laureates are rewarded for their achievements in the field of human rights...
  
   for merits on Human Rights
• 1997 Mount Zion Award
  Mount Zion Award
  The Mount Zion Foundation has its seat at the Institute for Jewish-Christian Research at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland and grants every other year on october 28 the Mount Zion Award. In 1986 the Mount Zion Foundation was created by the German Reverend Wilhelm Salberg , son of a Jewish...
  
   for Reconciliation
• 1997 Evangelical Book Award
• 2000 Peace Award of the City of Augsburg
• 2002 Hermann-Kesten-Medaille
  Hermann Kesten Medal
  The Hermann Kesten Medal , named after Hermann Kesten , is a prize awarded annually for outstanding efforts in support of persecuted writers according to the principles of the Charter of International P.E.N. In 1985, the P.E.N...
  
  of the P.E.N.-Center
• 2002 Solidarity Award of the city of Bremen
• 2003 Profax-Preis of Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich
• 2011 AMOS-Prize for Civil Courage PNN

External links

• Biography