Sahbaa Al-Barbari’s story provides a unique perspective on Palestinian experiences before and after the 1948 Nakba. Born and educated in Gaza, Al-Barbari was an activist in her community. When Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, Al-Barbari and her husband Mu’in Bseiso became refugees, stripped of their residency rights and forced to live in exile for the next three decades. While in exile, moving from Lebanon to Syria, Libya, Kuwait, Egypt, and finally Tunisia, Al-Barbari held tight to her hope of one day returning to Gaza. Her life speaks volumes about the struggle experienced by millions of disenfranchised Palestinians, separated from family members and their homeland. This is the second book in the Women’s Voices from Gaza series, which honours women’s unique and underrepresented perspectives on the social, material, and political realities of Palestinian life. Foreword by Ramzy Baroud.

Sahbaa Al-Barbari is a native Palestinian who was born and grew up in Gaza City. After Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967 Al-Barbari was exiled from her country, only returning to Gaza in 1996.

Sahbaa Al-Barbari's profile page

Ghada Ageel is Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta and a columnist for the Middle East Eye, London. She holds a PhD and MA in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter (Britain) and a BA in Education from the Islamic University/Gaza. Dr. Ageel is the recipient of several awards and scholarships including The Phillips Grant (UK, 2013), The Jerusalem Studies’ Scholarship of the University of Exeter (2002 and 1999), the Higher Education Award of the Ministry of Education (Palestine, 1996) and the Hebrew Language and Literature Scholarship (Gaza, 1993). Her research interests focus on rights-based approaches to forced migration, Palestinian refugees in comparative perspective, oral history, women's studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the permanent status issues involved in the Middle East peace process. Dr. Ageel's work has been widely published in several newspapers, magazines, and journals worldwide, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Hill, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, Journal for Palestine Studies, Palestine Chronicle, MATAN Magazine (Hebrew) and many Arabic newspapers throughout the Middle East. Dr. Ageel has a diverse background, and distinctly inter-disciplinary knowledge, including almost 20 years of first-hand experience in the fields of education, research, consultancy, management, NGOs operation, journalism, disaster management, and communications. She has also worked with several institutions in the UK (University of Exeter, the Guardian Newspaper, Hoping Foundation), US (Institute for Middle East Understanding, the Academy for Educational Development and Interfaith Peace Builders), Canada (The Canadian Red Cross and University of Alberta) and in Palestine (International Cooperation South-South, The Palestinian Abraham Centre for languages and NHK).

Ghada Ageel's profile page

Barbara Bill has experience with several international humanitarian organizations including six years in Gaza. She currently resides in New South Wales, Australia.

Barbara Bill's profile page

"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

"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

"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