Light the Road of Freedom

"What an extraordinary project! We don't hear enough from Gaza. Through the oral histories of Palestinian women who have lived, witnessed, and built lives and futures for their families and communities—in the face of devastating force and continuing injustices—we learn Palestinian History through the intimate daily ways individuals have lived and made it." Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University

"Gaza City is one of the most ancient cultural centres on the Mediterranean, and its people have long been a backbone of the Palestinian national movement. How Gazan women describe their lives under continual siege and military attack reveals their capacity for bearing hardship and undertaking initiatives in the public sphere. Ghada Ageel, a Gazan, and Barbara Bill have ably used oral history to bring readers the lived reality of women of different backgrounds, ages, and occupations." Rosemary Sayigh, anthropologist and oral historian

"Al-Barbari lived in Cairo, Beirut, and Kuwait, before being allowed to return to Gaza after the Oslo Peace Accords gave permission for some exiles to return... She witnessed the attacks in Beirut moving from shelter to shelter; she lived in Tunis when Israeli agents attacked Palestinians exiled there; during the 1967 war she was in Cairo, which started her original denial of return... [L]iving in peace, a real peace, is the basic demand... Light the Road of Freedom is an important contribution to recording history as witnessed and experienced by the women and families of Palestine." Jim Miller, Palestine Chronicle, August 25, 2023