Huda Abuarquob (Arabic: هدى أبو عرقوب; born 1970) is a Palestinian peace activist and feminist, former educator, and a regional director of Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP).[1][2]

Early life and education

Abuarquob was born in Jerusalem[1] to a Communist and feminist mother, who taught English, and a Sufi-influenced father, who was a school principal.[2][3] Her family placed immense importance on education;[2] her paternal grandmother, who was illiterate, ensured her seven children were educated.[4] Her family were also promoters of peace and nonviolence. Her maternal great-grandfather helped protect Jewish residents of Hebron during the 1929 Hebron massacre.[5][3] When Abuarquob expressed interest in joining the First Intifada in the late 1980s, her mother discouraged her, telling her to read Tolstoy instead.[3] She is the eldest of twelve children.[2][4]

Abuarquob's family moved to Saudi Arabia for a few years during her childhood, before returning to the West Bank, where they settled in Bethlehem.[2] There, her father taught at a Catholic school. The family later relocated again, to a village near Hebron.[2]

Career and education

Abuarquob first worked as a teacher in the West Bank, where she worked for 15 years for the Palestinian Ministry of Education.[2][4] In 1997, she was part of a group of teachers who designed the first Palestinian educational curriculum.[2] As part of the experience, she met with Israeli teachers; this marked the first time Abuarquob had met with Israeli civilians.[2] These educational encounters with Israelis would continue; a few years later, Abuarquob visited Boston to participate in a forum hosted by Boston College's Irish Institute, and met Israeli teachers also in attendence.[2] She interned with the Irish Institute for the following three summers.[2] Through these experiences, Abuarquob decided that education, and through it, engagement with 'the other', was key to peace efforts.[2] After encountering Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paolo Freire, Abuarquob also began envisioning herself not as a victim, but simply as someone oppressed, and that “the responsibility of the oppressed [is] to liberate themselves, and thereby, liberate the oppressor as well.”.[2][6]

Inspired to begin working as a peace activist, Abuarquob applied to the Fulbright Program.[2] She was accepted, came to the United States in early 2004, where she studied at Eastern Mennonite University for a graduate degree in conflict transformation and peace studies, graduating in 2006.[2][4] While at the university, Abuarquob was also able to reconnect with her Islamic faith through a lens of social justice, rather than politics.[2]

Activism

While studying in the United States in the early 2000s, Abuarquob co-founded, with a Jewish man, Abraham's Vision, a non-profit based in San Francisco that built connections between Jewish and Palestinian college students.[5][4]

Abuarquob joined ALLMEP in 2014 as its regional director.[2]

In December 2017, she received the Laudato Si’ Prize from the Vatican.[2][5][7]

Abuarquob has worked with Women Wage Peace,[2][3][8] and she is a board member of Track Two: An Institute for Citizen Diplomacy.[9] She was one of six peacemakers profiled in Ron Kronish's 2023 book Profiles in Peace.[10]

Personal life

Abuarquob lives in Hebron.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Huda Abuarquob". Alliance for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Saldaña, Stephanie (2023-01-24). "Huda Abu Arqoub: Building the Land Her Grandfather Knew". crcc.usc.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Abu Arqoub, Huda (February 2018). "Palestinian, Feminist, Peacebuilder: an interview with Huda Abu Arqoub". Fathom. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Muslim Woman Joins Jewish Man for Social Justice". Peacebuilder Online. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Conversation with Huda Abuarquob". www.awakin.org. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  6. ↑ Lieber, Dov (April 11, 2016). "Peace alliance seeks to move beyond sharing a plate of hummus". The Times of Israel. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Huda Abuarqoub Awarded the Laudato Si' Award / Dec. 2017". Women Wage Peace. 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  8. ↑ Liebermann, Oren (2017-10-09). "Israeli, Palestinian women join peace march through desert". CNN. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  9. ↑ "Board of Directors". tracktwo. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  10. ↑ Altschuler, Glenn C. (2023-02-03). "'Profiles in Peace': How NGO peacebuilders became the only game in town". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
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