Awad, a Palestinian Christian (a member of the Greek Orthodox Church), was born in 1943 in Jerusalem when it was under the British Mandate.

[2] In the 1960s he moved to the United States to study at the Mennonite Bluffton University and received a BA in social work and sociology.

[5][7] As an offshoot of NYAP, he later founded and directed Youth Advocate Program International, headquartered in Washington, DC.

YAP International's mission is to promote and protect the rights and well-being of the world's youth, giving particular attention to children victimized by conflict, exploitation, and state and personal violence.

Using this knowledge and his experience, Awad prepared his own "12-page blueprint for passive resistance in the territories," eventually published in the Journal of Palestine Studies.

[3] Awad claimed, with support from U.S. consular officials, that under international conventions Israel did not have the right to expel him from his place of birth and he refused to leave.

[3] Ian Lustick, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, cited the ruling in Awad's case as one of a number of examples that he argues demonstrate that "[t]here has never been an official act that has declared expanded East Jerusalem as having been annexed by the State of Israel.

In a 1984 article for the Journal of Palestine Studies, Awad stated, "for the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza the most effective strategy is nonviolence.

"[21] Israeli diplomat Moshe Arad in a New York Times article decried Awad who he claimed took American citizenship, in accordance with immigration law, which required that he 'intends to reside permanently in the U.S. and then turned around and claimed to the Israeli Supreme Court that his intention was always to reside in Jerusalem.

"Nonviolence as merely a convenient tactic... incitement and acts of violence - are these the watchwords of a man truly committed to peace and moderation?

[22] In 1989, Awad founded Nonviolence International, a non-governmental organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.