Fatema Al Harbi

Early life and education Al Harbi is from Riffa, Bahrain. In 2008, Al Harbi, then 17 years, took part in the Olympic Youth Camp in conjunction with the 2008 Summer Olympics, representing the kingdom in Bahrain. The camp was an educational and cultural exchange program under the Olympic flag for young people aged 16 to 18.

Career She has written five novels in Arabic about women's issues in Bahraini society, which incorporate love stories as they deal with issues such as gender equality, women empowerment, and mental health, and founded a podcast in Arabic.

From 2013 to 2020, Al Harbi worked as an employee of the Bahraini Ministry of Education.

In late 2020, Al Harbi became involved with Sharaka ("partnership" in Arabic), a non-governmental organization founded that year by young leaders from Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE promoting the Abraham Accords (bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain), peace and cooperation in the region, and mutual dialogue, understanding, cooperation, and friendship.

Following her visit, Al Harbi decided to quit her job to work for Sharaka full-time, advocating for peace.

In 2023, Al Harbi became the Director of Gulf Affairs at Sharaka, and is the head of its Bahrain branch in Manama. She has also visited the United States on Sharaka speaking tours. In 2022 and 2023, she was part of Sharaka's delegation to the March of the Living in Poland, a Holocaust commemoration event, and the site of the Auschwitz extermination camp.

Personal life Al Harbi wears a hijab. She says that she has lost friends due to her efforts to make peace with Israelis. In 2022, she said that she began posting about the Holocaust on social media in response to widespread Holocaust denial in the Arab world.

Recognitions and honours In 2022, Al Harbi was named a One Young World and European Commission Peace Ambassador; the program supports young people working to prevent and counter violent extremism in their communities. That year she was also a Scholar-in-Residence at Oxford University, Pembroke College, for the ISGAP-Oxford Summer Institute for Curriculum Development in Critical Antisemitism Studies.

In 2024, she was nominated by the U.S. State Department for the International Visitor Leadership Program on "Human and Civil Rights in Marginalized Communities".