Hope is a Woman's Name

At birth, Amal''s father looked at her and said, "I see hope in her face. I want to call her ''Amal''—meaning ''Hope''—in the hope that Allah will give us boys after her."

The fifth daughter in a patriarchal society and an indigenous Bedouin in a Jewish state, Amal Elsana came into this world fighting for her right to exist.

A shepherd at the age of five, she led her flock across the green mountains...