Longing for peace in Gaza

By Martha Thomsen and ChristianWeek | November 8, 2010

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish was born a refugee in the Gaza Strip in February 1955. Today, he and his five children live in Toronto. I Shall Not Hate chronicles the years in between.

Abuelaish relates powerful memories of boyhood in Jabalia Camp—the stench of the latrine, the gnawing ache in his hungry stomach, the exhaustion from selling milk in the very early morning, the anxiety as he rushed to get to school on time. He also tells of a kind Israeli family who hired him when he was 15. He used his wages to help buy a house for his family after Ariel Sharon's soldiers bulldozed theirs.

A first grade teacher convinced six year-old Abuelaish that he could become anything he wanted to. He decided to become a doctor. As an obstetrician/gynecologist, he worked with Israeli colleagues, treating Israeli and Palestinian patients alike, until December 2008 when the Israeli attack on Gaza began, killing three of his daughters and his niece.

Anyone wanting to know more about those living in the cauldron of the Middle East will benefit from reading this book: Abuelaish opens his heart to us. His focus is hope for the future, not revenge for the past. He is determined to view all people as individuals, and to respect all lives as sacred. He is convinced that most Israelis and Palestinians want to coexist peacefully, and that the key to peace lies in their getting to know one another. He advocates for change in the status of women and girls, believing that females must be respected and empowered, especially through education and adequate health care.

As I've considered Abuelaish's words, I've tried to enter his world. I've imagined the gaze of his daughters—the mischievous eyes of Aya who wants to become a journalist, the glowing eyes of Mayar who aspires to be a doctor and the gentle, tender eyes of Bessan who was mother to her siblings following their mother's death. Beautiful children, hopeful, wanting to live in peace.

What kept coming to my mind as I read was Jesus' parable about two sons, and His question to the Pharisees: "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" (Matthew 21:31 NIV). I wonder which son is doing what our Father wants in the Middle East.