For 50 days in the summer of 2014, Israeli forces pounded the besieged Gaza Strip from air, land and sea, killing more than 2200 Palestinians and wounding more than 11,000, most of them civilians. At the height of the bombardment, roughly a third of Gaza's population was displaced, and by the time the August 26 cease-fire was declared over 17,000 homes had been completely destroyed and another 37,000 homes damaged.
In the midst of it all, Dr. Ghada Ageel travelled to Gaza to be with her family, spending more than a month experiencing the Israeli bombardment and the chilling aftermath of the assault. She calls it "the scariest and most stressful trip" of her life. Come hear Ghada's story and learn what the prospects are now for Gaza's future.
Dr. Ghada Ageel is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Her research interests focus on rights-based approaches to forced migration, Palestinian refugees in comparative perspective, oral history, women's studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the permanent status issues involved in the Middle East peace process. Dr. Ageel's work has been widely published in several newspapers, magazines and journals worldwide, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Hill, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, Journal for Palestine Studies, Palestine Chronicle, Occupation Magazine and many Arabic newspapers throughout the Middle East. Dr. Ageel is currently working on a book project: The Palestinian Nakba and Israeli Apartheid : The Law and The Experience. She is also active in Faculty4Palestine-Alberta.