Born to a Palestinian Christian family, she attended Talitha Kumi, a boarding school in Beit Jala which was founded by Lutheran deaconesses in the 19th century.[1] After gaining her university entrance qualification, she studied biology, geography and education at the University of Hamburg, Germany and received a doctor's degree in applied botany.
Between 1982 and 1997 she was a university lecturer in botany and ecology at the Palestinian Birzeit University north of Ramallah. Between 1997 and 2001 she was the manager of the Palestinian Jerusalem Center for Women, working for peace together with the Israeli group Bat Shalom.
Sumaya Farhat-Naser is known for her clear expressions of opinion in the media, and particularly for her various projects, in which she motivates Palestinian women to work on a peaceful resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Publications
Thymian und Steine (autobiography), Lenos Verlag, Basel 1995, ISBN 3-85787-657-3
Daughter of the Olive Trees, Lenos Verlag, Basel 2003, ISBN 3-85787-340-X
Disteln im Weinberg. Tagebuch aus Palästina, Lenos, Basel 2007, ISBN 978-3-85787-716-2
Im Schatten des Feigenbaums, Lenos, Basel 2013, ISBN 978-3-85787-436-9
Ein Leben für den Frieden, Lesebuch aus Palästina. Lenos, Basel 2017, ISBN 978-3-85787-479-6
Awards
1989 Honorary Doctorate from the Theological Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany