A DIFFERENT MOTIVATION
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish/Photo by Jacob Stevens via Wikimedia Commons. I Shall Not Hate is the
memoir of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish.
PALESTINIAN DOCTOR TO BRING MESSAGE OF PEACE TO SARASOTA
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Associate Editor
"I shall not hate."
That's the simple message coming to Sarasota next week with the arrival of Dr. Izzeldin
Abuelaish — a Palestinian doctor whose efforts to bring peace to the Middle East were
sparked when three of his daughters were
killed by Israeli shells in Gaza in 2009.
After the explosions, Abuelaish placed a call
to an Israeli journalist, who ended up carrying
the conversation on live television, a moment
captured and posted on YouTube. As devastating as his daughters' deaths were, Abuelaish
decided on a mission: "to tell his family's story and, in doing so, prove to the world that
not every Palestinian is motivated only by revenge," in the words of the The Observer.
According to Dan Boxser, who invited Abuelaish to Sarasota on behalf of The Herman &
Sally Boxser Diversity Initiative (named for
his parents and affiliated with Temple Beth
Sholom), Abuelaish had two options: seek revenge or go beyond politics to try to bring people together. He chose the latter. He created a
foundation to promote educational opportunities for girls and young women in the Middle East and speaks out forcefully for peace,
earning a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and
publishing a memoir, I Shall Not Hate.
