'Gaza Mom' Speaks about Palestine and Politics

Laila El-Haddad, blogger, political analyst, social activist and mother of two children from Gaza, speaks about her book, “Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything In Between,” Monday, Feb. 14, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge inside Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The lecture, sponsored by the Gaede Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont, is free and open to the public. El-Haddad will have books available for purchase and signing.

“So much attention is given to the politics of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but we have too little opportunity to look into the day-to-day life of a family facing the very real challenges of the conflict,” says Chris Hoeckley, director of the Gaede Institute. “We’re grateful to be offered that personal perspective as we seek to support justice and security in the region.”

The book details the life of a busy Palestinian journalist who is covering the story of Gaza, living it and then explaining the ongoing events to her two young children.

El-Haddad, a graduate of Duke University, earned her master of public policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She and her two young children spend as much time as possible in Gaza, however, her spouse, a Palestinian physician who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon, is not allowed by Israel to enter Gaza.

El-Haddad contributes regularly to the BBC and the Guardian Unlimited, and was the Gaza stringer for the Al-Jazeera English website from 2003-2006. She has made two Gaza-based documentaries for Al-Jazeera International and has contributed to the Alternative Tourism Group’s tourist guidebook of Palestine. She is the author of an award-winning blog, now known as Gazamom (previously named “Raising Yousuf: A Diary of a Mother Under Occupation”).