Sami Awad

Once in a while in life you meet those people who are in a completely different category of folks–we call them visionaries. When I first met Sami Awad, I felt I was in the presence of a person so profoundly humble, yet powerful, so wise yet unassuming–one had undergone such deep personal transformation and was able to articulate it in a way that inspired and empowered others. I was so blown away by him and what he stood for, that I created an award just to acknowledge his vision and efforts–the Visionary of the Year award.

Sami Awad is a Palestinian Christian living in Bethlehem with his wife and three daughters. He is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust (HLT), a Palestinian not-for-profit organization established in Bethlehem in 1998. Through a commitment to the principles of nonviolent action, HLT seeks to strengthen and empower the Palestinian community in developing spiritual, pragmatic, and strategic approaches that will allow it to resist all forms of oppression and build a future that makes the Holy Land a global model and pillar of understanding, respect, justice, equality and peaceful coexistence.

Sami holds a Masters Degree in International Relations, specializing in Peace and Conflict Resolution from the American University in Washington D.C. and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas. During his time in the U.S., Mr. Awad kept very close links with his native homeland and always intended to return to the Palestinian Territories to play his part in building and developing the Palestinian community.

Sami’s full interview with Euphrates on Non-violent action and challenging Palestinian and Israeli identities.

Interviews and Videos of Sami Awad from Global Oneness Project.

Interview of Sami Awad with Just Vision.

Sami Awad’s story and message of nonviolence is featured in Tea with Hezbollah: Sitting at the Enemies’ Table By Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis.