In this extraordinary interview with Palestinian Dr. and Professor Izzeldin Abuelaish, who lost three daughters and a niece to Israeli tank shelling in Gaza in 2009—the same day, 15 years ago, as this program–and who recently lost 22 family members in the Gaza Strip to the Israel-Hamas war, Dr. Izzeldin pleads for an end to the siege on Gaza and addresses co-existence, hate, anger, forgiveness and how to move forward toward peace. … We begin with a report on the tumultuous events of Jan. 9 and beyond, when the Santa Cruz City Council considered a community-drafted ceasefire resolution; what happened at that meeting and what happened after that. Dr. Abuelaish addresses comments from local participants in that meeting as well as calls and emails from live listeners.
This show was aired as a special production of both the “Talk of the Bay” program and “Moment of Truth with Ami Chen Mills” at KSQD.
Show Notes and Resources
Please see Dr. Abuelaish’s biography below:
Professor and Doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian Canadian physician and internationally recognized human rights and peace activist devoted to advancing health and education opportunities for women and girls in the Middle East.
Dr. Abuelaish was born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. He lived through many hardships there, including poverty, violence, and the horrific tragedy of his three daughters’ and a niece’s deaths in the 2009 Gaza War.
Professor Abuelaish has been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and is known as the Nelson Mandela and “Martin Luther King of the Middle East,” having dedicated his life to using health as a vehicle for peace.
Prof. Abuelaish’ s book, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity, an international best seller and autobiography of his loss and transformation, has achieved worldwide acclaim.
Published in 2010, now translated into 23 languages, this book was inspired by the loss of his three daughters – Bessan, Mayar, and Aya – and their cousin Noor who were murdered by Israeli tank shelling on January 16th, 2009, the book has become a testament to Izzeldin’s commitment to forgiveness as the solution to conflict and the catalyst towards peace.
I Shall Not Hate has become both a documentary, due out this year and a play. Past US President Jimmy Carter has said of Dr Abuelaish … “He has expressed a remarkable commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation that describes the foundation for a permanent peace in the Holy Land.”
Professor Abuelaish has been awarded nine honorary doctorates, The Order of Ontario, The Meritorious Service Cross, the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award of Canada; and many other international-level awards. Doctor Abuelaish founded the Canadian charity, Daughters for Life, in memory of his daughters. Daughters for Life provides young women with the opportunity to pursue higher education and to become strong agents of change.
Currently, Dr. Abuelaish lives in Toronto and is a Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
I Shall Not Hate, the book: https://www.amazon.com/Shall-Not-Hate-Doctors-Journey/dp/0802779492
The Daughters for Life Foundation: https://daughtersforlife.com/
