The internet has bestowed upon us countless benefits for which I am forever grateful…However, the one website that I have a love-hate relationship with will always remain to be ‘Amazon’. Everything one can expect from online shopping is compressed on one little screen. They (the lovely, and simultaneously, devious people behind this ingenious concept) record-against our will-what items we’ve bought or searched for in the past then tell you what other customers that have bought this product also purchased. And of course we ever conforming humans are immediately wooed by this and are immediately drawn in some trance to click the ‘add to basket’ (and add to credit card bill) link. Sceptical I may be of this tactic Amazon frequently employs, I do feel a tad bit grateful for it as they introduced me to Suad Amiry’s memoir of Ramallah ‘Sharon and my mother-in-law’.
A little extract to sell the book quoted ‘Sharon, I may forgive you for the 42 day curfew you imposed upon us in Ramallah, but I’ll never forgive you for leaving my mother in law with me for what seemed like 42 years.’ This definitely was the selling point of the book since it drew parallels with what my recently married sister is facing. When my sister married a Gazan this summer, his mother inevitably travelled to England to attend the wedding with the intention of leaving the following week. Gazans don’t enjoy the advantage of flying to or from Israeli airports and since their airport was demolished, they’re to cross the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel however, has closed this border recently leaving thousands of Gazans waiting at this border for over two months. Thus (the unbearable) mummy in law had no option but to outstay her welcome at my (unfortunate) sister’s new house in compliance with Israel’s commands.
The book however does not focus predominantly on the relationship between the two resisting forces, but rather gives an original humorous perspective on the occupation. Suad is a professor in architecture who was born to Palestinian parents that were forced to leave their homes in Jaffa to live in the neighbouring country of Jordan then later Lebanon. Amiry’s writing style of this memoir is concise, candid and, unconventionally, not poignant; refusing to manipulatively play on her audience’s emotions or seek sympathy. Her encounters with the Israeli occupying force leave us with a fusion of emotions: not knowing whether to envy her resilient nature, laugh at the bizarre situations she falls in or cry in outrage for the inhumane conditions she and many others are forced to live under.
The comical insertions (including her dog getting a Jerusalem permit) into this Palestinian memoir makes it unique and stand out from others as it draws our attention to the absurdity to the occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Further recommendations:
Joe Sacco: Palestine
Samir El-Youssef and Etgar Keret: Gaza Blues
Raja Shehadeh: When the bulbul stopped singing
Raja Shehadeh and Anthony Lewis: Strangers in the House
