If you would like to plan a speaking event with Laila, please contact her at laila.elhaddad@gmail.com!

Laila El-Haddad is a freelance Palestinian journalist and writer based between the United States and the Gaza Strip. She spent the past three years in Gaza reporting for the Aljazeera Satellite Channel's english language website (now known as Aljazeera International) and Pacifica Radio's Free Speech Radio news. Her work is also frequently found in the Guardian Unlimited, the BBC World Service, the Electronic Intifada, Le Monde Diplomatique, and the New Statesman.

Laila received her B.A. from Duke University in Political and Comparative Area Studies in May 2000. Her thesis was on "NGOs and the Palestinian National Authority in the Gaza Strip: Between Integration and Conflict." More recently, in June 2002, Laila earned a Master's in Public Policy, with a concentration in International Security from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Laila has received a number of awards and scholarship for her leadership, public service, intellectual abilities and dedication to her work. Laila is also the author of the blog Raising Yousuf, named after her two-year-old son (www.a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com), where she writes about the trials and tribulations of motherhood under occupation.