.jpg)
Renowned as the “Martin Luther King of the Middle East”, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish will visit Cyprus on Wednesday 3 April where he will give key note speeches on endorsing health and education as a tool for peace in the Middle East.
Dr. Abuelaish, a Palestinian medical doctor was born and educated in a refugee camp on the Gaza strip. Against all odds, he then gained a scholarship to study medicine in Cairo and then received degrees in London, Italy and Belgium while obtaining a Masters Degree from Harvard University. His accolades do not end there. His unwavering passion and commitment in areas of conflict have now made him one of the most prominent researches, educators and public speakers on peace and development in the Middle East. He has given speeches all over the world and been interviewed by major media outlets like the BBC, CNN, and the Economist. Numerous awards and nominations have been bestowed upon him in recognition of his promotion of peace through health, such as the Stavros Niarchos Prize for Survivorship. He is the first ever recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize.
Dr. Abuelaish’s first appointment will be at a Gala Welcome Dinner at The Columbia Plaza, Limassol on Wednesday 3rd April at 7:30pm, where he will give a brief speech about peace in the Middle East.
Next he will hold a meet and greet with the Executive Dean of St. George’s Medical School in Nicosia at 5:30pm on Thursday 4th April and give a speech on the importance of providing young women in the Middle East with a good education, so they in turn may provide education and health to their children. An added bonus to his mission is for his association “Daughters for Life” (www.daughtersforlife.com) to grant scholarships to young women in the Middle East to attend the St. George’s Medical School in Nicosia. Later that night he will have dinner with Palestinian Ambassador to Cyprus Dr. Walid Hasan. Finally Dr. Abuelaish will make a keynote speech to 1,100 Rotary International Delegates from nine neighbouring countries at 11:00am, followed by a book signing in English and Arabic between 2:30pm and 3:30pm at the Elias Beach Hotel Limassol. Then at 4:30pm he will meet 600 Palestinian refugees at the House of Arts and Letters in Larnaka in conjunction with the Mayor of Larnaka Andreas Louroutziatis.
On Saturday Dr. Abuelaish will return to Canada where he now lives and works as an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Sponsoring Dr. Abuelaish’s visit is Emirates with co-sponsor The Rotary Club of Limassol Berengaria-Cosmopolitan.
