Reading Response: October 31

Sharon and My Mother in Law by Suad Amiry

I really enjoyed reading the excerpts from the Ramallah Diaries, It was a nice change to read a story instead of an article. I like reading stories based on real life events every once in awhile, because you learn a lot without realizing it. I thought the chapter about the gas masks was a good way to understand the everyday life in the Occupied Territories. The fact that they waited in line for hours in order to have a gas mask was infuriating to me. They even ended up going home empty handed which is extremely careless and dangerous of the Israeli government. I tend to forget that these awful stories that I hear of are actual real life accounts. There are people out there, in this case Palestinians, who live under very hard, unfair conditions. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is not just history, but that it is happening right now.
I was actually really upset that she only picked one puppy and left the other sibling alone. I would have defiantly taken both, but she should not have left one puppy alone and scared! That isn't even an important part of the story, but it really got to me. I liked how she used the metaphor of the dog with the Israeli passport to describe the living situation in the Occupied territories. I can't imagine my dog being able to get a passport before I could, I didn't even know animals needed passports! Overall I really liked these excerpts!