Gave Me a Headache

Just finished A Day In the Life of Abed Salama- Anatomy Of A Jerusalem Tragedy, by Nathan Thrall. Many names, many threads and backstories, somewhat difficult to follow or keep in order. There was a list of characters corresponding to the different sections of the book, which helped as a reference from time to time, but I still gave up after a while and just tried to notice prominent themes.

That being said, it is a heart-rending true story of life in the modern-day environs of Jerusalem and the West Bank for a Palestinian family with deep roots in the area. The book revolves around a tragic accident in which Abed Salama’s son, Milad, was eventually discovered to be one of the victims of a deadly collision between a school bus and an out-of-control semi-trailer on a dangerous road in awful weather conditions.

The story is about the barriers—both literal and figurative—that Palestinians deal with in their daily lives, with commentary along the way. A timely read, given current headlines.

One thing that I took from the book is how complicated life is in that place—a simmering animosity and distrust, green IDs, blue IDs, separate roads, numerous checkpoints, a dearth of all sorts of essential services, a 26-foot-high wall that inhibits access, heightens aggravation, and snakes around with no visible rhyme or reason—even as there is a certain logistical coherence to its placement.

What struck me is the money spent and the lengths Israel has gone to ensure safety for its citizens and access to as much of the Promised Land as possible, leaving islands of crowded, often unkempt, unpoliced, neglected parcels for Palestinian families who also share in the history of the area. I was left thinking, “No, thank you,” with regard to ever wanting to live in such a place.

While “complicated” was the word that kept coming to mind, the bigger challenge for me was trying to get my head around the dynamic of two groups of people with deep religious and historical ties to the area who often clash, who have often been brought to deadly, mindless violence, who make distinct claims, and who occasionally try to get along.

The jacket description claims Jerusalem and its environs– and, really, much of what we know as the state of Israel– to be one of the most highly contested parcels of land on earth. This book reveals how that dynamic plays out, through the eyes and ears and hearts of a single, connected family.