A Palestinian-American academic has unexpectedly become a key backchannel between the Trump administration and Hamas to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. Though not an official diplomat, Bishara Bahbah helped facilitate the May release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander after being contacted by a senior Hamas operative. Since then, the activist has worked with US envoy Steve Witkoff on secret talks for further hostage releases in exchange for a temporary truce.
Who Is Bishara Bahbah?
Bishara Bahbah's family fled to Jordan during the 1948 Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs. He was born in 1958 in East Jerusalem, which was then a part of Jordan after it was annexed following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It also occupied the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. Mr Bahbah's family moved and settled permanently in the US in the 1970s.
A Harvard-educated scholar, Mr Bahbah earned his Master's and PhD in finance and went on to teach at the university, where he also served as the associate director of Harvard's Middle East Institute.
Mr Bahbah also worked in journalism as the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian newspaper, Al-Fajr. He served as a Palestinian delegate during the 1992-1993 Arab-Israeli peace talks. Until recently, he was the vice president of the US Palestine Council.
In a 2018 interview, he said that Palestine would always be his home and that he registered his US-born children with UNRWA. "It will always be my home, no matter where I live," he told Arab News. "When I die, I want them to say I was Palestinian. That's our eternal right."
Originally a Democrat, Mr Bahbah publicly broke with the party in 2024, criticising former President Joe Biden's handling of the war in Gaza.
In May 2024, Mr Bahbah joined the Trump campaign to help form the PAC 'Arab Americans for a Better America' and later founded 'Arab Americans for Trump' to rally Arab-American Republican support in Michigan. He worked closely with Trump envoy Richard Grenell and businessman Massad Boulos.
He publicly opposed Trump's February proposal for Gaza to be turned into a "Middle East Riviera" by expelling its population. Following that statement, Mr Bahbah rebranded his group to 'Arab Americans for Peace'.
Mr Bahbah also played a behind-the-scenes role in drafting a congratulatory letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Trump after his re-election. This made way for the first direct phone call between the two leaders.
Mr Bahbah also helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza on 19 January before Israel unilaterally ended it, resumed its assault, and blocked all aid from entering the war-ravaged strip.
In April, Mr Bahbah was pulled into informal diplomacy after Hamas official Ghazi Hamad asked him to relay a message to US officials. This led to secret talks with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and the release of US-Israeli national Edan Alexander from Gaza on 12 May.
