Residence Toronto, ON Canada Role Medical doctor Name Izzeldin Abuelaish | Occupation Professor Nationality Palestine | |
 | ||
Title Michael and Amira Dan Professor in Global Health Books I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity, I shall not hate, I Shall Not Hate [qi-07] Education Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of London, Cairo University, Harvard University | ||
Tedxwaterloo izzeldin abuelaish refusing to hate
Izzeldin Abuelaish (Arabic: عزالدين أبو العيش), OOnt is a Canadian-Palestinian medical doctor and author. He was born in Gaza, and was the first Palestinian doctor to work in an Israeli hospital. He was active in promoting Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. His daughters attended a peace camp with Israeli children in the United States. During the Gaza war, his three daughters and a niece were killed by Israeli tank fire directed at his home. He had been calling in reports about the effect of the war by phone to a TV station. In his regularly scheduled report, in tears, he described their killing on-air, in a video that was widely circulated in Israel and the world. The Israeli army first said that his house was targeted because snipers were firing from his house. Then a day later they said they were targeting militants. Then another unproven justification given was that one of the dead girl's bodies contained shrapnel from quassam rockets.
Contents
- Tedxwaterloo izzeldin abuelaish refusing to hate
- In conversation with izzeldin abuelaish
- Life and career
- Daughters for Life Foundation
- Honours and awards
- Works
- References
He left Israel/Palestine for Canada, but wrote a book, I Shall Not Hate.
In conversation with izzeldin abuelaish
Life and career
Abuelaish was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He received his elementary, preparatory and secondary education in the refugee camp schools.
Abuelaish received a scholarship to study medicine in Cairo, Egypt and then a diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the University of London.
From 1997–2002 completed a residency in OB/Gyn at the Soroka University hospital in Beer Sheva, Israel, followed by a subspecialty in fetal medicine in Italy and Belgium; then a master's degree in Public Health (Health Policy and Management) from Harvard University.
He has written a book named I Shall Not Hate.
He founded the "Daughters for Life Foundation" in memory of three of his daughters, who were killed by Israeli tank fire during the Gaza War. The organisation provides scholarship awards to encourage young women to pursue their studies at universities in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
Dr. Abuelaish was the first Palestinian doctor to receive a staff position at an Israeli hospital, where he treated both Israeli and Palestinian patients. Immediately before the war he was a researcher at the Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv and already an important figure in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The death of his children strengthened his resolve to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. He is currently Associate Professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto.
In February 2013, he attended the Karachi Literature Festival in Pakistan where he narrated the events surrounding the death of his daughters killed in the Israeli airstrike. According to The Express Tribune, "there was hardly anyone in the audience who did not choke or wipe away a silent tear while listening to Palestinian doctor and author Izzeldin Abuelaish..." Abuelaish describes events as follows:
We are standing in the scene of the tragedy, in the place where four lovely girls were sitting, building their dreams and their hopes, and in seconds, these dreams were killed. These flowers were dead. Three of my daughters and one niece were killed in one second on the 16th of January at a quarter to five p.m. Just a few seconds, I left them, and they stayed in the room — two daughters here, one daughter here, one daughter here, and my niece with them.
He became a Canadian citizen in 2015.
Daughters for Life Foundation
Abuelaish established the Daughters for Life Foundation, which provides scholarships and awards for young female students in the Middle East. The foundation aims to invest in the potential for young women’s leadership, and to foster their success.