Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Harvard-educated Palestinian physician, has gone through numerous tragedies in the past year. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee lost his wife to cancer in September 2008, and in January three of his daughters — Bessan, 20; Mayar, 15; and Aya, 14 — were killed when his home in Gaza was shelled.

And yet Abuelaish, who now lives and works in Toronto, has learned the art of forgiveness. On Tuesday, he will share his wisdom with Santa Feans in a talk titled "Forgiveness: An Engine for the Peace Journey" at the James A. Little Theater on the campus of the New Mexico School for the Deaf. The event is a benefit for Creativity for Peace, a Glorieta-based camp where Israeli and Palestinian girls can come together to work for and create peace.

"I am working to promote humanity," Abuelaish said in a recent phone interview. He explained that although his talk touches on peace, simple human compassion could solve the world's problems. "I am working to promote the human feeling and similarities. ... We are similar and we are human. That's what we need to discover within ourselves and our hearts and our minds and our senses."

If Israelis and Palestinians could see each other as humans, the way Abuelaish sees his patients, things could be more peaceful, he said.

"We deal with the human being," Abuelaish said about his work as a doctor. "When we treat patients, we don't deal with his name. We are treating them without any relation to background, religion, nationality. Medicine is the profession where humanity is."

Abuelaish got in touch with Dottie Indyke, executive director of Creativity for Peace, to offer his participation. She was delighted to accept.

"He wanted to see where his daughters had been," Indyke said, adding that three of Abuelaish's daughters have participated in the Creativity for Peace Camp.

"Santa Fe goes back to my memory of when I was waiting for my daughter Bessan," Abuelaish said. "I sent her with the deep understanding that women can make a difference."

Abuelaish has helped Indyke and Creativity for Peace since 2007. In addition to sending his daughters to the camp, Abuelaish would help the organization distribute food and medicine in Gaza. It's an organization he very much believes in, he said.

"All girls and women must take the lead," Abuelaish said. "Women can make a difference, and it's time for women to take the lead."

That is the main goal of Creativity for Peace, which seeks to create an understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, and to nurture leaders.

"He's the living embodiment of what we're trying to do," Indyke said. "He's somebody, like our girls, who has suffered so much and still believes in peace."

Abuelaish said he knows women can make a difference because the women in his life made him a success.

"I owe my life to my mother, my wife and my daughters," Abuelaish said. "I fully believe that women are always the ones who can build and can destroy — but women never destroy. Women are always builders. They build houses, they build families, they can build nations and build countries and relationships with these people."

The talk is appropriate for this community, Indyke said, because Santa Fe is a place where "people care an enormous amount about what goes on in the world and care a lot about social justice and peace."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: "Forgiveness: An Engine for the Peace Journey," a talk by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish to benefit Creativity for Peace
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: James A. Little Theater, School for the Deaf, 1060 Cerrillos Road
Admission: $20
Tickets: Lensic Performing Arts Center box office, 988-1234 or 211 W. San Francisco St.