FORA.tv Speaker - Amal Elsana Alh'jooj

Amal Elsana Alh-jooj is the director of AJEEC the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation - a division of NISPED. Alh-jooj was born in Laqiya, an Arab Bedouin village in the northeastern Negev, to a family with 13 children. She began her career as a community organizer when she was 14, and at the age of 17, established the first Arab Bedouin women's organization. Alh-jooj completed her high school education in the village of Tel Sheva and went on to study social work at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She received her M.A. in Community Development from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Alh-jooj is one of the shapers of public opinion in the Arab community, in Israel in general and in the Negev in particular, regarding the status of the Arab minority and the status of women in Israel. She is a lecturer and participant in numerous conferences devoted to these issues in Israel and abroad, and has received a number of awards.