On the Border: A Palestinian–Bedouin Woman in War and Academia

Two kilometers from Gaza, a Palestinian–Bedouin professor begins her mornings in quiet prayer, tending to her garden as rockets arc across the sky. By afternoon, she is in a classroom, teaching Jewish and Arab students in one of Israel’s most politically charged academic spaces. By night, she is a mother and grandmother, carrying memories of Rafah, tribal traditions, and a childhood shaped by crossing invisible lines.

In On the Border, she tells the story of a life lived in tension, between tribe and state, between loyalty and suspicion, between war and scholarship. Accused of betrayal by some and normalization by others, she refuses the simplicity of choosing sides. Instead, she insists on complexity, on dialogue, and on the moral courage to hold multiple truths at once.

Through vivid scenes of childhood in Gaza and her fight to enter university in a society that told her girls should stay home, her rise to become one of the first Bedouin women professors in Israel, and her experience of October 7th from the edge of war, this autoethnography reveals the intimate cost of living at the seam of history.

At once deeply personal and politically urgent, On the Border is a story of resilience, intellect, motherhood, and the quiet strength required to remain human when every side demands allegiance. It is a rare and necessary portrait of what it means to live and to think between worlds.

Author

Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail, Ph.D., is a Professor of Social Work at Sapir Academic College and a leading scholar on Bedouin society, gender, social justice, and conflict. She serves as Chair of the Committee for the Advancement of Arab Students and the Promotion of Fairness and Partnership between Arabs and Jews on the Sapir campus, and heads the National Center for Knowledge, Policy, and Research on Bedouin Society in the Negev. Dr. Alhuzail is also a Board Member of the European Social Work Research Association and an international lecturer with the Israel Institute. 

“A courageous and intellectually compelling memoir that challenges simplistic narratives.” — Kris Clarke, University of Helsinki, Finland

“An illuminating account of resilience, womanhood, and academic life between worlds.” — Collins B. Bugingo, Cornell University, USA

“A timely and necessary work that gives voice to histories too often left untold.”— Jim Campbell, University College Dublin, Ireland

“A unique and insightful perspective on the journey of a Bedouin woman in a changing society.” — Alan Frazier, University of North Dakota, USA