I Shall Not Hate

I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity is a memoir by Palestinian-Canadian physician, peace activist, and author Izzeldin Abuelaish. First published by Walker & Company in 2010, the book is the true-life account of Abuelaish's experiences growing up in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the injustices he and his family endured under Israeli occupation, and the defining tragedy that changed his life forever. Abuelaish, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, received several awards for I Shall Not Hate, including the Search for Common Ground Award, the Middle East Institute Award, and the Stavros Niarchos Prize for Survivorship.

Abuelaish's memoir opens with a foreword by Dr. Marek Glezerman, the chairman of the Hospital for Women and the deputy director of Israel's Rabin Medical Center. Glezerman introduces readers to the Abuelaish he knows: a courageous and selfless man—a survivor in every sense of the word—working tirelessly to bridge the gap between Israelis and Palestinians. Glezerman praises Abuelaish's dedication, explaining that Abuelaish's very personal story of pain and loss, paired with his vision for a peaceful Middle East, is powerful enough to change hearts and minds. If only one person can make peace happen, Glezerman writes, Abuelaish is that person.

The book opens with Abuelaish and his children at the beach in Gaza City in 2008. He and his kids are grieving; Abuelaish's wife and the children's mother, Nadia, died of leukemia several weeks before. Now, Abuelaish is left to raise eight children on his own. To further compound his grief, problems crossing the checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip prevented him from reaching his wife on her deathbed, and she passed away without him by her side.



This is just one in a long line of injustices Abuelaish and his family has had to suffer during the course of their lives in occupied Gaza. He goes on to explain the volatile politics in the region and the religious, social, and cultural divides that have long separated the Israeli and Palestinian residents of the area. The discord is something Abuelaish has lived with all his life.

The author then takes readers back to his childhood. He is born in the Jabalia refugee camp in 1955. His life, by his own admission, was never an easy one. He grows up in the refugee camp and takes every opportunity to avail himself of an education. His parents and nine siblings sacrifice everything so he can go to medical school in Cairo. He later becomes a resident at an Israeli hospital—the first Palestinian doctor to do so. He continues his education in Europe before graduating from Harvard University with a master's degree in public health. Abuelaish then accepts a position as a senior researcher at another hospital in Israel.

Abuelaish's accomplishments give him an advantage that most on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict never have. He lives with one foot in the Israeli world and another in the Palestinian. He witnesses firsthand, day in and day out, how medicine can be a vehicle of peace, uniting both sides of a long-warring population, and how doctors themselves have the potential to be messengers of that peace. It is a potential Abuelaish commits himself to fulfill each day, with each patient.



In 2009, a tragedy unlike any Abuelaish has ever known—or could ever imagine—shatters the already-fragile ground beneath his feet. He is talking on the phone, live on air, with a television journalist, discussing the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the phone call, Israeli tanks shower a rain of fire on his home, killing his three daughters. Abuelaish does not end the call; he continues talking, explaining to the journalist and all listening what is transpiring before his eyes, describing the gruesome deaths of his daughters at the hands of Israeli forces. It is a major turning point for Abuelaish personally, but also for the world. In vivid detail, in real-time, with their very own ears, people around the globe witness the extent of the brutality in Gaza.

Abuelaish never receives an apology from the Israeli government. They give conflicting stories about the reason for the attack. First, they claim they only attacked because they saw sniper fire coming from the home. Then, they claim to be targeting militants housed there. Neither sniper fire nor militants were ever in residence at the Abuelaish home.

However, what is perhaps more important and more telling is that Abuelaish isn't waiting for an apology. He does not need an apology to forgive. He and his surviving children move to Canada and start anew, but Abuelaish's mission of peace and his message of forgiveness are only beginning. In honor of his daughters, he starts the Daughters for Life Foundation, which awards scholarships to girls in the Middle East. He continues his work as a medical doctor, still seeing medicine as an effective way to build bridges and bring peaceful solutions. He is a vocal peace advocate and speaker. But, Abuelaish reminds readers, he is just one of many who feel this way. "Mutual respect, equality, and coexistence are the only reasonable way forward, and I firmly believe that the vast majority of people who live in this region agree with me," he writes. Fortunately, the world has Abuelaish's example to follow.