The frontline in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Gaza is constantly reported as a place of violence and terror. Ramzy Baroud's memoir explores the daily lives of the people in that turbulent region: the complex human beings -- revolutionaries, mothers and fathers, lovers, and comedians -- who make Gaza so much more than just a disputed territory. At the heart of Baroud's tale is the story of his father who, driven out of his village to a refugee camp, took up arms to fight the occupation while trying to raise a family.
Palestinian-American journalist, author and former Al-Jazeera producer, Ramzy Baroud taught Mass Communication at Australia's Curtin University of Technology, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle.
"Ramzy Baroud's sensitive, thoughtful, searching writing penetrates to the core of moral dilemmas that their intended audiences evade at their peril. Few are spared his perceptive eye, and only the morally callous will fail to respond to his pleas to look into the mirror honestly, to question comforting beliefs that protect us from facing our elementary responsibilities, and to act to remedy the terrible misery and injustice that he exposes to our view, as we surely can." -- Noam Chomsky.
Baroud's work has been published in hundreds of newspapers and journals worldwide, including The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, The Miami Herald, The Japan Times, Al-Ahram Weekly, Asia Times and nearly every English language publication throughout the Middle East.
He has been a guest on many television and radio programs including CNN International, BBC, ABC Australia, National Public Radio, Al-Jazeera and many others. He has contributed to many anthologies and his 2002 book, Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion has received international recognition.
His 2006 book, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press: London) has won the praise of many scholars world-wide, such as Dr. Hanan Ashrawi who stated, "His volume presents a compelling narrative of Palestinian victimization without being defensive or apologetic, and with no attempt at disguising or denying internal weaknesses and shortcomings." Professor Norman Finkelstein praised the work, saying, "In this curious blend of passionately subjective yet dispassionately objective journalism, Ramzy Baroud chronicles the unfolding of the second Intifada in masterful prose."
His latest book: My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story, also published by Pluto Press, London (2010), narrates the story of the life of his family, (his family is used as a representation of millions of Palestinians in Diaspora) starting in the early 1940's until the present time.
Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University and Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestinian Territories, UN Human Right Council wrote about Ramzy's Gaza book: "Ramzy Baroud has written a deeply moving chronicle of the persisting Palestinian ordeal that manages to interweave and bring to life the heart-wrenching experience of his family, particularly the heroics of his father, with the daily cruelties of the prolonged Israeli occupation of Gaza, the frequent horrors of refugee existence, and the disillusioning futility of seeking an end to a bloody conflict that goes on and on. This book more than any I have read tells me why anyone of conscience must stand in solidarity with the continuing struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination and a just peace."
Ramzy Baroud has been a guest speaker at many top universities around the world, including George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Rutgers University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Manchester (UK), University of Ireland (Dublin), University of Washington, Penn State University and the University of Kwazulu Natal, Durban, South Africa, He has also been a guest speaker at the House of Commons in London, England.
