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A review by novabird
In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story by Ghada Karmi
3.0
Ghada Karmi is an authentic voice that gives the reader an examined and intimate look at Arabian, English, Palestinian/Israeli relations from the point of view of a displaced Palestinian. ISoF provides the context for more closely looking at a current incidence of colonization, and broadens one’s perceptions of Palestinians that are better and more humanely portrayed than our current misperceptions of them as, “Arab refuges, extremists or Islamic terrorists.” p. xv.
Ghada Karmi views the overtaking of Palestine by Israelis as a consequence of the Jewish Holocaust and therefore the narrative as one necessary to be told as a sequel to this horrific historical event.
There is a very good balance between historical fact and the psychology of displacement.
It also touches on the background to the Suez Canal Crisis and the Munich Olympics of 1972 and gives a brief overview of the development of the PLO.
Due to my own ignorance, I thought that the setting for this book would have been the Gaza Strip. I am very thankful to Ghada Karmi for expanding my socio-political understanding of this complex issue.
I recently attended a presentation by monitors from the organization Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. Their website is at http://eappi.org/ .
They gave the attendees a close look at the near Third World living conditions of many Palestinians. They addressed the issue of what it is like to stand in line for checkpoints. Most of those who have to leave their Palestinian areas for work in Israel have to pass through checkpoints where they have to arrive three hours early in order to ensure their getting to work on time. And they covered several other issues as well.
Ghada Karmi views the overtaking of Palestine by Israelis as a consequence of the Jewish Holocaust and therefore the narrative as one necessary to be told as a sequel to this horrific historical event.
“Why should we pay for what you Europeans did to the Jews? It’s not fair! If you’re so sorry for them, why not have them all here or give them a part of Germany? That would surely be just, wouldn’t it? And why didn’t you and the Americans take them in when they were in trouble in the 1940’s Why ease your consciences at our expense?”
There is a very good balance between historical fact and the psychology of displacement.
It also touches on the background to the Suez Canal Crisis and the Munich Olympics of 1972 and gives a brief overview of the development of the PLO.
Due to my own ignorance, I thought that the setting for this book would have been the Gaza Strip. I am very thankful to Ghada Karmi for expanding my socio-political understanding of this complex issue.
I recently attended a presentation by monitors from the organization Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. Their website is at http://eappi.org/ .
They gave the attendees a close look at the near Third World living conditions of many Palestinians. They addressed the issue of what it is like to stand in line for checkpoints. Most of those who have to leave their Palestinian areas for work in Israel have to pass through checkpoints where they have to arrive three hours early in order to ensure their getting to work on time. And they covered several other issues as well.