Palestinian

Revered as the Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish was born in al-Birwa, a village that was ravaged by Israelis. He was exiled in Paris and Beirut for many years and was even once put in prison for reciting a poem. His writing style merged traditional Arabic forms with modern elements.

Hanan Ashrawi is a Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar. She was the official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation at the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991 and was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council as a representative of Jerusalem in 1996. She is also the founder of the Independent Commission for Human Rights and the author of several books. 

Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian political figure who was arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces on charges of murder. Considered the leader of the First Palestinian Intifada and the Second Intifada, Marwan Barghouti still plays an influential role in the political matters of Fatah from within the prison.

Palestinian political leader and co-founder of the party Fatah, Khalil al-Wazir became a top leader of Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. He fled his native Palestine during the war that formed Israel. A military strategist, too, he later participated in the First Intifada and was later killed by Israeli commandos.

Justin Martyr was a philosopher and early Christian apologist. He is best remembered for his text, the First Apology, which attempts to convince Emperor Antoninus to give up the persecution of the Church. He was martyred and is venerated as a saint by Anglican Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian political leader. One of the most important figures of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which began in the mid-20th century, Yasser Arafat remains a controversial figure as he is regarded as a hero by the Palestinian people while the Israelis view him as a terrorist. 

Elia Suleiman is a Palestinian film director. His 2002 film Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Early in his career, he co-directed the experimental documentary Introduction to the End of an Argument.  He has also directed many feature films. In addition to his entertainment career, he is a professor at the European Graduate School.  

Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, is remembered as a symbol of Arab nationalist resistance to Palestinian Zionism. His rebellions made the British drop the idea of making Palestine a Jewish state. During World War II, he rallied to stop Jewish immigrants from entering Palestine from Nazi-occupied countries.

A passionate believer in the Palestinian cause, Juliano Mer-Khamis was an Israeli-Palestinian actor, theatre director and filmmaker, known especially for his 2004 documentary film, Arna's Children. Also the founder of the Jenin Freedom Theatre, he was a symbol of the bi-national dream, advocating cooperation between Palestine and Israel. Assassinated in 2011, he stood firmly against religious dogma and gender oppression.