Yousef Bashir

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

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

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. 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. The soldiers destroyed the family's greenhouses and orchards and forced his family (Bashir, his parents, grandmother, and seven siblings) to sleep in the living room, while the soldiers used the second and third floors of the house. That year, Bashir's brother, Yazen, was shot non-fatally by soldiers while putting out a fire in the family's garden.

Bashir was shot by an Israeli soldier on February 18, 2004, at age 15, resulting in a spinal injury. The shooting occurred at Bashir's home, while the family was saying goodbye to UN staffers who were visiting. Although the Israeli army took responsibility for the shooting, they did not provide an explanation as to why it happened. He was brought to a hospital in a UN car. Because the local hospital did not have the resources to treat him, Bashir was brought to a hospital in Tel HaShomer, Israel, where he formed connections with some of the Israeli healthcare workers who treated him. 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. By the end of his stay, Bashir was able to walk again, and he returned to his family home in Gaza.

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

Education
Following rehabilitation for his injury, Bashir chose to attend a Quaker high school in Ramallah. 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.

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

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

Career
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. In 2018, Bashir published a memoir, The Words of My Father: Love and Pain in Palestine, in the United Kingdom. In 2018, the Times Literary Supplement included the memoir on its Books of the Year list. 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."

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

Bashir has written for The Forward and The New York Times, and has spoken with MSNBC. 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.

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

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