Osama Qashoo

Osama Qashoo (; born 3 August 1981) is a Palestinian human rights activist, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He fled Palestine as a refugee to the United Kingdom in 2003. He switched from filmmaking to his involvement in Hiba restaurants, and created Gaza Cola in 2023 as a revenue stream to support Palestinians in Gaza affected by the Gaza war. He founded Palestine House, a London based cultural centre above Hiba Express, in 2024. He supports a Palestinian state through peaceful methods.

Early life and education Osama Qashoo studied engineering between 2000-2003 at An-Najah National University in Nablus in the West Bank, during which time the Second Intifada began; nobody was allowed to leave his village in the north of the West Bank, stopping his graduation plans. Qashoo has said that he found a broken VHS camera in the landfill around his village and filed it with stones, using it to pose as an Italian named Lorenzo and pretend to film a Japanese journalist who had been attacked by Israeli soldiers, causing them to release the journalist and getting a working camera from them as a token of gratitude. Qashoo was forced to flee Palestine after organising peaceful demonstrations against the separation wall, which he called the "apartheid wall", built by Israel inside the West Bank; he arrived in the United Kingdom as a refugee. He has said that he lied that he was British and that his parents were wealthy in order to get in. While there from 2004 to 2005, he made a number of short documentaries; In 2010, Qashoo helped organise the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, onboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. Nine passengers on the Mavi Marmara were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in international waters. Qashoo was one of 682 detainees who were taken into Israeli custody after Israel attacked the boat; He has stated that he rejected some funding from larger institutions, fearing they would "influence or control the narrative of [the] space." In November 2023, Qashoo had the idea for Gaza Cola, My Dear Olive Tree (2004), director – created at the National Film and Television School No Choice Basis (2005), director Soy Palestino (2007), director Samir's Room (2011), director – shot in Syria and Jerusalem, and inspired by the issue of illegal occupation of family homes in East Jerusalem

Personal life Qashoo has an adopted son in the West Bank, who was shot in the head in June. , the whereabouts of this 17-year-old are not known.