A coin has two sides.
This audiobook addresses the Palestinian side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has afflicted the peoples of that region since 1948, until today. The true story of a Catholic Palestinian refugee woman and her displaced journey which, for her, turned out better than for most refugees.
Her daughter, Mona, the author, retraces her Mother's wanderings, and goes back to Palestine, even staying there at one point for the better part of a year. She endured check points and curfews, and other injustices but those were muted compared to her Palestinian counterparts due to her American passport. Here she taught traumatized Palestinian school children who had witnessed violence since they'd been knee-high to grasshoppers. She had come to help mitigate some of that by teaching more peaceful ways to resolve conflicts even among their childish selves.
How much was suffered and lost by the Palestinians? How much fear can a person live with? How much violence is still perpetuated? Yet there is resilience in those people which shines out in community.
The script is rather intense. It's controversial and you may go spinning into spirals of emotional convolutions. Take your time to listen. Feel the pathos.
Readjust your perceptions and say, as author Mona herself shared from her school-going days, and repeat, "I am a human being." Change it slightly to, "We are human beings" whether Israeli, Palestinian, or from wherever; one is still a human being and therefore to be respected. Have compassion. This must NOT be ignored.
~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~
July 2021
Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy given from the publisher.
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