Reading Response 16

In this week's reading we read two chapters from "Sharon and my Mother-In-Law" by Suad Amiry.  In the first chapter we read about an area controlled by Israeli soldiers with an Israeli base near it that is occupied by Palestinians who live under a curfew.  The date is February of 1991.  In this chapter we learn of the strictness of living under martial law curfew, and the terrors of disobeying it.  The main character of this talks about how he has seen people gunned down for taking a step outside after curfew hours, even if they were doing nothing inherently wrong.  In the chapter it is announced early in the morning that everyone is required to meet up at a bus near the military compound to receive gas masks in case Saddam Hussein unleashes his chemical weapons.  Some people refuse to go because they are so afraid of being gunned down, others sneak they're way up to the bus, and some just walk casually up to the bus.  When they get to the bus they realize that they are being led around for no apparent reason, and instead of the bus taking them to the compound to get their gas masks that they were promised, one of the soldiers tells the bus to turn around.  They were being relocated and were tricked under the guise of receiving gas masks for protection.  Once most of the people aboard the bus realize what is going on some laugh, some get mad, and one person makes a comment along the lines of "why are we Palestinians so stupid and actually believe them".  Overall this chapter made me feel very bad for the Palestinians in this particular occurrence, although I know that this is not a one sided battle.

In chapter 9 we read about the narrator coming across two dogs in the street and having to choose one to live, the narrator eventually makes a decision and picks the blonde dog over the dark haired dog.  When the dog is to be given her rabies shots, the vet, who is racist asks the narrator if she is sure she wants to waste thirty dollar shots on a female dog.  This makes the narrator furious and she makes a comment mentioning that this occasion was the first time she ever thought about killing another human being, which I believe is obviously in jest.  As the chapter progresses she finds a new dog who is just a puppy, and instead of calling the sexist vet, she decides to visit an Israeli vet instead.  She is nervous about this because she thinks the Israeli vet might be prejudiced against her, but she goes nonetheless.  What ends up happening, is the small dog gets its own Israeli passport and the narrator comments on how she considered stealing it and using her own picture do to the difficulty level in attaining one any other way.  For me this chapter was extremely compelling, especially towards the end because it makes you realize how ridiculous some of the laws are in that area of the world.  There is so much hatred and so many grudges held against each other that even a dog can be given rights that a human could not.  I have always known that it was bad over there, but reading articles like this makes me sick to my stomach that such little progress is being made towards a peaceful, mutually productive conclusion.