His parents, Amin and Laila Al-Arian, were Palestinian refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948.[3][4] After the 1948 Palestine war, Amin had to leave behind the family soap factory in Jaffa and flee towards the Gaza Strip's refugee camps.[3] Amin's family migrated to Kuwait in 1957 where Sami Al-Arian was born.[5] Under Kuwaiti law, his parents had legal resident status but he was not eligible for citizenship.[6] In 1966, his family was expelled from Kuwait after refusing to become informants for Kuwaiti intelligence.[4] He received his primary and secondary education at Cairo, Egypt.[6][5] During the early 1970s, Sami learned English from American TV shows, including Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, and The Fugitive.[5] He left Egypt in 1975, and returned in 1979 for a visit when he married Nahla Al-Najjar.[6]