To interview Muna Handal-Dayeh contact the IMEU at 714-368-0300 or info@imeu.net

Palestinian-American businesswoman Muna Handal-Dayeh.

Though she was only six months old when she and her family left Palestine, business owner and Bethlehem Association President Muna Handal-Dayeh has maintained a strong link with her homeland. "I have always felt a deep connection to my heritage. Being a strong Bethlehemite family, we always had a proud history and stories," she says.

In addition to her role as President of the Bethlehem Association Handal-Dayeh is also a founder and board member of the San Diego chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. She works tirelessly to preserve and to educate others about Palestinian culture and to assist Palestinians in the occupied territories.

"At the Bethlehem Association we promote the history of the Bethlehemites and provide scholarships for students going to Bethlehem University," Handal-Dayeh explains. "We raise funds and distribute them to charities in Bethlehem."

"In 2007, we organized a pilgrimage to Bethlehem for the first time," she adds. "We hope to make it a regular event as a way of showing support and providing a much-needed economic boost to the town. Bethlehem is being cut off not only physically but economically. We need to make people aware of the situation and encourage people to go and spend money there."

Born in 1957, Handal-Dayeh grew up in Milwaukee and San Diego. As a young adult she worked in various jobs in the electronics industry before founding her own company, Primo Sales, in 1992. Today, annual sales exceed $25 million. "The electronics industry historically has been a very male-dominated, chauvinistic industry," Handal-Dayeh explains. "I figured the best way to control my destiny was to have my own company. Maybe as a Palestinian that's something I feel more acutely because we've never been able to control our own destiny."

Handal-Dayeh has been back to visit Palestine several times. "For me it is a reawakening and a recommitment and connection to my family and my homeland," she says.