Being an Arab lecturer in a Jewish academic institution under fire has challenged me as a professional, a researcher, and a lecturer. Social workers often function in the context of conflicts, but the practice focuses on normative social problems such as domestic violence, poverty, and crime rather than the effects of the conflict on social workers and their clients. In my academic institution, Sapir Academic College, which for years has been in a conflict area and under fire, students are not equipped with relevant knowledge and skills. In my speech, I will present my personal narrative documented during three of Israel’s wars with the Gaza Strip.

Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Work at Sapir Academic College in Israel. She is the chair for the Committee for the Advancement of Arab Students and Promoting Fairness and Partnership between Arabs and Jews on the Sapir Campus. Allassad Alhuzail’s research deals with the implications of social change for thelives of three generations of Bedouin women, poverty, Indigenous social work, social work inconflict areas, and women in traditional and religious societies.