Aref Hijjawi was born in Nablus, Palestine, in 1956. He’s married and the father of two daughters. Aref studied Arabic at Birzeit University and was a schoolteacher for four years. He worked for the BBC for ten years, Aljazeera for seven, and in between he worked for the Media Institute at Birzeit University for six years. Aref was editor of Alhayat Aljadida Daily for six months.