There is great anticipation for the Ambassador, who will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Forum of Mediterranean Journalists event on 25 November at 10:00 a.m. in the University of Bari’s auditorium. She will then participate in the panel discussion, ‘Silencing the Truth: The Massacre of Journalists in Palestine’.
When Mona Abuamara took office as the new Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Italy in spring 2025, the news received little attention from the mainstream media.
However, behind this appointment lies a figure destined to mark a change of pace in Palestinian diplomacy in Europe. Abuamara belongs to a new generation of diplomats who have grown up in a globalised world where the Palestinian cause is defended with competence, firmness, and the ability to engage in dialogue on multiple levels, not just rhetoric.
Born in 1979 and with an academic background in the Middle East and North America, she has built a solid career in international relations. Prior to her posting in Rome, she led the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Canada for four years — a complex country for Middle Eastern diplomacy where sensibilities often oscillate between the two sides of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In Ottawa, Abuamara became known for her calm determination and her ability to speak with balance, even during the most tense moments. She adopted a communicative approach, focusing on the language of rights rather than confrontation. In an interview with a Canadian broadcaster in 2023, she described “dignity, rights and hope” as the foundations of peace: measured concepts rooted in diplomacy and international law.
Upon arriving in Rome in March 2025, the Palestinian diplomat began a series of institutional meetings, conferences, and public dialogues in Italy. In one of her first speeches in Naples, she said: ‘Italy is not only a political partner, but also a place of human dialogue. In a time of walls, our mission is to build bridges”. It seems that Abuamara wants to restore visibility and substance to the historic link between Italy and Palestine. She is doing this discreetly but consistently through meetings with institutions, universities, Palestinian and Arab communities in Italy, and by building a network of contacts with cultural associations and non-governmental organisations.
Her approach is clear: to relaunch public and cultural diplomacy, strengthen municipal cooperation between Italian and Palestinian cities, promote sustainable development projects, and enhance mutual understanding as a basis for new dialogue. In her speeches, she talks about a ‘diplomacy of dignity’ and emphasises the importance of being heard rather than raising one’s voice. “Peace,” she said at a conference in Rome, “does not come from negotiations, but from the ability to see each other. We, the Palestinian people, want to be seen for who we are: human beings, not statistics.’
In a diplomatic context that is increasingly theatrical and effects-driven, Mona Abuamara opts for patience and sobriety as her method, style and political vision. From this perspective, her mission in Italy is both institutional and cultural: to re-establish ties, rebuild trust, and restore a human and universal dimension to the Palestinian narrative.
Mona Abuamara also represents an important step forward for Palestinian gender diplomacy. She is one of the few women leading a diplomatic mission in Europe, and her presence is a testament to the gradual but significant evolution of female representation in the Arab world. “Every Palestinian woman who arrives in a position of responsibility,” she said, “speaks not only for herself, but for a generation that has chosen competence as a form of resistance.”
Abuamara is not just a militant; she is also a professional mediator who believes in the silent power of competence. With her, Palestine is not relinquishing its voice, but entrusting it to someone who can use it professionally and intelligently.
