Palestinian doctor and writer
Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian doctor who has practiced extensively inside Israel and the Gaza Strip, seeking reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians through medicine and understanding. In 2009, Abuelaish’s three daughters and his niece were killed under Israeli fire. After this tragic loss, Abuelaish created Daughters for Life, a foundation dedicated to providing education and health services for women and girls in the Middle East. In 2011, he published “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity,” which has been translated into 16 languages. He is the recipient of the 2012 Calgary Peace Prize and the 2014 Public Peace Prize. In 2016, Abuelaish received the Living Legend Award from the Human Symphony Foundation and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times. He is an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he teaches courses on women’s health in countries of conflict.
