I was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, ten years after the creation of the State of Israel. I moved to the United States in late 1977 and have been active in various local and national political organizations. I am the co-founder of the Middle East Cultural and Information Center in San Diego (karamanow.org) and served as Secretary General of the U.S. chapter of a national student union.

For many years, I wrote a weekly opinion column for a newspaper, and my work has been published on several websites. I frequently write and speak on the question of Palestine. I have a Ph.D. in Leadership and Executive Management, an MBA in Global Management, as well as a B.S. in Civil Engineering. I am a registered professional engineer in California and have worked overseas in the oil industry on cross-country pipeline projects, as well as in water and wastewater infrastructure management in San Diego, California.

I lived through the tumultuous years when the PLO took control of the refugee camps in 1969 and endured the most intense periods of the Lebanese Civil War. At age 11, I ran away from home to join the PLO. I survived numerous Israeli raids on the camp, narrowly escaped death in an airstrike in 1972, and later survived serious head injuries in Jerusalem in 1996. In 1997, I worked with the United Nations in Gaza.

The Palestinian refugee camp where I grew up was completely destroyed in the summer of 2007.