Personal Info
- Country of residence: United States
Information
Najat Arafat Khelil is the president of the Arab Women’s Council Research and Education Fund and co-coordinator of the Dialogue Project between American Jewish and Palestinian Women.
Born in Nablus, Palestine, Dr. Khelil received her B.Sc. degree in chemistry and physics from Cairo University; in 1962 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Ohio State University where she received M.Sc. degree in Nuclear Physics. She continued her studies to receive Doctorate degree in Nuclear Physics from the State University of North Texas, Denton, Texas where she was the first woman to get such a degree.
Dr. Khelil taught at Texas A & M University, Bryan, Texas, the State University of North Texas, University of Algiers, Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina and George Washington University. She was a research fellow at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Algiers, Algeria, and was Visiting Researcher at the National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD.
Dr. Khelil was very much involved in most of Arab American and Palestinian American Organizations. She was a founding member of the Union of Palestinian American Women and served as its first president, was one of the founding members of the Palestinian American Congress and served as its National president, as well as the Arab Women’s Council. She served on the National Board of Directors of the United Holy Land Fund, vice president of the Muslim Women Association of Washington, DC, President of ROOTS the Palestine Youth Organization, member of the Executive Committee of AAI National Policy Council
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Achievements and Awards
Dr. Khelil was also involved in many NGOs that work for peace in the Middle East, she served on the Board of Directors of Partners for Peace, was the vice president of Women Organization Middle East Network (W.O.M.E.N.), member of the Board of Directors of U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, national board of directors of the Rainbow Coalition and member of the executive committee of the U.N. North American Coordinating Committee for the Non- Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine
Dr. Khelil participated as a speaker in many national and international conferences: she was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the first dialogue conference between Palestinian leaders and Israelis “The Road to Peace”: Co-Existence Between Israelis and Palestinians, “Give Peace a Chance”: Women Speak Out, the Jerusalem Link conference: “Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals for Two States”, also was a member of the U.S. Presidential delegation the Taba I peace agreement signing, On occasions, she appeared on national and international television.
Through out her career, Dr. Khelil maintained her deep and personal involvement in and commitment to women’s issues in general and in particular has dedicated her professional life and energies to improving the future of Arab women in the United States and abroad. Under the auspices of the US information Agency and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department, Dr. Khelil as a trainer in leadership, conflict resolution, and organizational development, has led workshops on Leadership Training for Women in Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Qatar and Morocco. Furthermore, she led workshops on Conflict resolution in the United States, Canada, Russia Palestine, Israel and Northern Ireland. Dr. Khelil was listed in Marquis Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who in the Arab-American Community.
- Years in active
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