Izzeldin Abuelaish

• University of Toronto

This paper examines the concept of conflict- and war-related hatred as a multifaceted construct. Drawing upon various theoretical frameworks, we hypothesized that hatred in the context of conflict and war would encompass five distinct dimensions: Groupthink (Contagious Hatred), Destructiveness, Exposure, Chronicity, and Extreme-Severe Affect. To em...

Background Cultural factors influence attitudes toward death, and gender disparities are evident. Prior studies show that medical students have limited knowledge about death and are uncomfortable with it. Moreover, there is limited research that has examined factors that influence medical students’ knowledge and attitudes toward death. Objectives...

This study sought to explore the relationship between resilience as perceived within the Palestinian context, and individual, contextual, and psychosocial factors among adults living in the Gaza Strip. Secondly, this study applies the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale to the Palestinian population within the context of the challenges they are facing...

While the detrimental effects of protracted political conflict on the wellbeing of Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) are generally recognized, the impact of perceived threat on quality of life (QoL) faced from within their community (ingroup; Palestinians) and from the outgroup (Israelis) is unexplored. This cross-sect...

Objectives Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to cope with persistent violations of their social, economic, political, and civil rights. This study sought to measure resilience among adult Palestinians and its relation to contextual factors (sociodemographic variables) and emotional response using a social-ecological framework. Study design C...

Health and peace, and their relationships to disease/conflict/violence, are complex and multifaceted interrelated terms. Scholars have proposed a variety of definitions for health and peace. The conceptualizations of health and peace share many fundamental elements, including in their social, psychological (emotional and mental) and spiritual dimen...

A contentious issue in the Israel-Palestine conflict is the ongoing construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank along with its related policies, both of which have had impacts on the lives of resident Palestinians. These impacts have been documented by various UN and non-governmental agencies yet have been insufficiently studied in the ac...

Background Remarkably high carriage prevalence of a community-associated meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain of sequence type (ST) 22 in the Gaza strip was reported in 2012. This strain is linked to the pandemic hospital-associated EMRSA-15. The origin and evolutionary history of ST22 in Gaza communities and the genomic element...

The study examined a potential underlying mechanism through which self-control skills (SCSs) may predict more happiness on the one hand and less hostility, anger and peer aggression on the other hand in an understudied sample of 744 Palestinian youngsters (Grades 8–12) from the Gaza Strip, a military conflict area. The hypothesized model was confir...

Fourth of June 2017 marks a half century of the Six Day War, three decades post the first Intifada, seven decades post the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), the 70th anniversary of Israeli Independence, and one century post the Balfour Declaration. Both Palestinians and Israelis remain occupied. Five million Palestinians remain sick with hopelessnes...

Esta historia es una lección necesaria en contra del odio y de la venganza, dice Elie Wiesel, Premio Nobel de la Paz, a propósito de un palestino que vivió cerca de medio siglo de horror y destrucción en la Franja de Gaza. Luego de haber perdido a sus tres hijas en enero de 2009 durante una incursión israelí en Gaza, el doctor Abuelaish dijo: «Si s...

This story is a necessary lesson against hatred and revenge, says Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laurate, about a Palestinian who has lived through half a century of horror and destruction in Gaza. After losing his three daughters in January 2009 during an Israeli incursion into Gaza Strip, Dr. Abuelaish said: "If I could know that my daughters wer...

Second-hand smoke is a major cause of preventable disease and death in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. To assess how second-hand smoke impacts air quality, respirable suspended particles (PM2.5) which are emitted during cigarette and waterpipe smoking, were measured inside and outside of 18 smoking and 5 nonsmoking public venues in Gaza city. Med...

Health and peace are complex ideologies that share several fundamental elements. In this paper, we begin by defining health and peace to better understand and appreciate their elements and how they can be promoted. Building on this, the paper tackles the determinants of peace and health at various levels: at the individual, community, and societal...

The present study examined a strong need for belonging (sensitivity to social rejection) as a risk factor and happiness and self-control skills as protective factors in predicting peer-directed aggression among 292 Israeli Palestinian Arab adolescents and 398 Gazan Palestinian Arab adolescents of similar ages (mean ~ 14 years). Findings demonstrate...

Refugees experience multiple health and social needs. This requires an integrated approach to care in the countries of resettlement, including Canada. Perhaps, interactive eHealth tools could build bridges between medical and social care in a timely manner. The authors developed and piloted a multi-risk Computer-assisted Psychosocial Risk Assessmen...

Pneumococcal infections cause major morbidity and mortality in developing countries. We report the epidemiology of S. pneumoniae carriage in a developing region, the Gaza strip, and evaluate the theoretical coverage of carriage strains by pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs). In 2009 we conducted a cross-sectional survey of S. pneumoniae carriage...

Microphthalmia/anophthalmia is a clinically heterogeneous disorder of eye formation, ranging from small size of a single eye to complete bilateral absence of ocular tissues. The genetic defect underlying isolated autosomal recessive microphthalmia/anophthalmia is yet unclear. We studied four families (two of Arab origin, one of Bedouin origin, and...

A convenience snowball sample of 187 women (100 senior or first wives, 87 junior or second wives) in polygamous marriages and living in refugee camps outside Gaza City completed questionnaires on basic demographic data, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem (SE), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Senior and junior wives experienced crowded housing condition...

A convenience snowball sample of 187 women (100 senior or first wives, 87 junior or second wives) in polygamous marriages and living in refugee camps outside Gaza City completed questionnaires on basic demographic data, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem (SE), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Senior and junior wives experienced crowded housing condition...

Drawing from broad social-cultural-ecological theoretical frameworks, an adaptive model of peace and health research is seen as increasing individual and collective self-efficacy. By locating a path to individual and collective responsibility, situated at the junction of social justice, peace and health, research has the potential to enhance adapti...