Keeping the Dream Alive: My Quest for Peace and Justice

In 1969, Israeli soldiers burst into Terry Ahwal’s home while she and her family were eating breakfast. More than fifty years later, she still vividly sees her father’s arms up in the air while young soldiers kicked him, hit him, and beat him with their automatic weapons. Her mother’s shouting and pleading also are seared in Terry’s memory. And she still has visions of her and her sister howling from terror as they watched their father dragged into the street.

Keeping the Dream Alive: One Woman’s Quest for Justice is Terry Ahwal’s story. It details her years growing up as a Palestinian Catholic under Israeli occupation, her reluctant immigration to the United States as a teenager, and her daily battles in becoming a Palestinian American who cares deeply about both her homeland and her adopted country.

As Terry has ascended professional and political life in mainstream America, she also has endured harassment by the Israeli government for daring to speak on behalf of Palestinians. As an adult, she witnessed further horrors when she returned to Palestine with Jewish and Palestinian colleagues, and a U.S. senator, on an economic mission. She has since been banned from returning.

Her goal is not to cast aspersions against the Israeli people, but to support her fellow Palestinians, who have endured much hardship under Israeli rule, and to realize her dreams of seeing a lasting, just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.