Obada Shtaya, MS Student

Obada Shtaya is a current MS student,  born and raised in Nablus in the north of the West Bank, Palestine. After earning his undergraduate degree in English literature at An-Najah National University, and working for a while, he decided to move to the U.S. in August 2015, after he received a Fulbright Scholarship to further his education at Mason.

Obada describes his undergrad years as "full of curiosity and exploration" as he sought to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and identify approaches to resolve it. After graduating, he started to work with the organization OneVoice movement. "I was introduced to OneVoice movement, a grassroots organization that uses conflict resolution lenses to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through solution-oriented discourse, and narrative analysis among others."

After working with OneVoice for five years, Obada decided that it was time to complement his practical experiences with a deeper understanding of conflict analysis and resolution theories and approaches.

After graduating from S-CAR, Obada hopes to have gained a better understanding of the use of interdisciplinary approaches in conflict analysis and the dynamics and lifespans of protracted conflicts that have somehow been resolved. "I believe that there is always a way to achieve a breakthrough, even in such a complicated conflict such as the one being experienced in Israel-Palestine. We should always strive to find out how this can be achieved and this is one of my biggest drives."