Name: I Shall Not Hate
ISBN: 9780802779175

Izzeldin Abuelaish

A Harvard-educated Palestinian physician who was raised in a Gaza Strip refugee camp recounts the 2009 bombing attack that killed his daughters, describing how he has cared for patients on both sides of the conflict and won awards for humanitarian acts urging peaceful resolutions.

A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

I Shall Not Hate

Patricia Nelson

I'm so glad I read this book. We read it for book club and discussed it tonight, and almost everyone felt the same. One member suggested that it should be required reading in middle or high school. The conflict in Palestine/Israel is a topic that I know too little about, and this story of a Palestinian doctor who grew up in Gaza and raised his children there for a long time gives the reader enormous insight into what some of the more modern history of the area is. It is embarrassing that I was so unaware of the realities of Palestinians, and I'm very grateful for that history lesson in reading the book. I'm also grateful to read about the amazing outlook of this man who has every reason to hate, but instead chooses to love and look for peace and finding a way to live side by side. Great book. Great story. Great book club discussion.

Dani C

I was deeply disappointed by this book. I've had it on my tbr list since it came out. Sadly, the synopsis given has very little to do with what Abuelaish actually talks about. It is made very clear very early on that he lived a highly privileged life. This sort of privilege allowed him far more access and ability than the average Gazan, making it difficult at times to hear his message of peace and human rights when he was too busy name dropping or explaining the many prodigious programs or jobs he was considered for. His frequent absence from his family made me question how much he really knew his family members and, again, how he can write a memoir on the basis of the deaths of some of them when they're hardly mentioned. 
I was expecting a memoir about a man who took a major loss and turned it into good. What I actually read was the story of how a man worked his way into positions of favors and influence who just happened to have the misfortune of his daughters passing right before leaving the country he wants peace for. I felt there were a lot of mixed messages, an undertone of blame and judgement despite his many protests of the opposite, and a profound lack of emotion given this is his family.

I Shall Not Hate A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

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