Our Story Tellers

Born to nakba survivors in a refugee camp in Gaza, Hassan el-Najjar migrated to the United States and spent his career, as an engineering Professor at Dalton State College, in the mountains of Northwest Georgia.  He was a regular on the minbar (pulpit) at the Dalton Islamic Center before moving after his retirement to Atlanta to be close to his grandchildren.  He has written several books and dozens of articles, many of which are now archived at the Cross-Cultural Understanding website. 

Ghada Elnajjar is a daughter of Dr. Hassan El-Najjar.  She works as the director of operations in an Atlanta area based financial services firm.  In her youth, she would spend Summers with family in Gaza.  She worked as a journalist before marriage and has since raised two sons.  She lives in the North Atlanta suburbs.  She has lost more than 100 relatives to the Occupation's violence since October 8th, 2023.

Jamal Awad was born in the immediate aftermath of the nakba, and eventually migrated to Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates before settling in Dalton Georgia, where he raised six children (including Palistory CEO Ibrahim Awad and CFO Malaka Mustafa).  He operated a car audio shop in Dalton until his retirement and now lives in Cherokee County, North of Atlanta.

Abeer Abouyabis grew up stateless in Beruit, a witness as a child to the Lebanese Civil War and Israeli incursions across the border.  She eventually moved to the United States, completing her medical training at Emory University Hospital.  After work in Middle Georgia, she would return to EUH where she worked for 19 years, before being terminated at the insistence of zionists for posting a poem to social media in the days following the October 7th, 2023 Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

At four years of age, Fahed Abuakel was driven from his home in Palestine by the Zionist terrorists driving the nakba.  He graduated from high school in the holy land before migrating to the United States in 1966 to attend Columbia Theogical Seminary in Decatur Georgia.  After travels and student preaching opportunities in Florida and Michigan, he returned to Atlanta where spent a career at the First Presbyterian Church in Midtown Atlanta.  In 2002, he was named by his peers as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and was instrumental in efforts which resulted in his national church divesting their retirement funds from the Occupation.

Musa Ghanayem was born in 1974 in Wisconsin, to parents whose families had claimed Ramallah, Palestine as their home for generations.  His parents were driven from their home following the 1967 war, and in the year before Musa's birth resettled in Wisconsin.  He pursued a law degree.  He has practiced law in three states, worked for a while as a prosecuting attorney and now runs a criminal defense practice in Atlanta.  He served for roughly a decade with the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine, travelling frequently to Palestine for the organization.