A review by meant2breading
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan Thrall

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Wow. Absolutely infuriating to learn that the Israeli emergency services (who were only minutes away) allowed a bus full of Palestinian kindergarteners to burn for an hour at an accident scene without intervening. 😭😭 Thank you to the intrepid bystanders and staff who went back and risked themselves to try and save those poor little babies. 💔 It was also very heavy to read through the perspective of the children’s parents, frantically trying to find or get to the right hospitals their children were taken to and how the IOF only permitted this based on what kind of ID they had at military checkpoints. Based on how Palestinians have been treated by settler colonial Israel historically (especially a long before the 2012 accident) and currently, I’m deeply angered but not surprised by the joy some Israelis took in the death of these children and Palestinian people. I can see why this book won a Pulitzer recently. While the primary focus of the story was on the collision and impacted families, I really felt Thrall’s dedication to provide the education and research on the broader consequences of apartheid and military occupation. Free Palestine now! 🇵🇸
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