Zaha holds a BA and MA in Political Science and Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) in Spain. Originally trained as a generalist, she began working on the Middle East during a summer semester at Harvard in 2006 and has focused on the region ever since. Her research has encompassed religion and identity politics in the region as well as political aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; her Masters' dissertation looked at the political attitudes of Palestinians in Madrid.
Upon completing her degrees in Madrid, she spent several years working internationally, with prolonged stays in the USA, Austria, Ireland, Germany and Spain. In 2014 she returned to academia, starting her PhD at St. Anthony’s College of Oxford University. Her thesis explores state and nation-building policies in Israel and Lebanon during the mandate and early statehood periods. During her year as a visiting PhD fellow at the Dayan Center, she hopes to be able to contribute to the Center’s publications, hold a guest lecture and carry out her own research at the Center’s library and Arabic Press Archives.