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My thought on: Against the Stranger By Janine Di Giovanni

The picture of this child on the front of this book is literally worth a million words, I cannot begin to describe the emotions that overcome me when I look at this child, he's probably a man now, I'm sure a little older than me or about my age, I wonder what his future was like, if he is still living...

I plan take a picture of this cover and post the picture, I was surprised but then again I should not be, I couldn't find a picture of this book online.

In the preface, the author mentions that this book began in 1987, imagine, Palestinians have being going through this pain and torture for decades, decades, decades... it is still going on and they still live with patience, hardships that I cannot even fathom!
I can't stop thinking if life in Gaza was so deplorable so many years ago, what can it be like now, the thought is horrifying, all of a sudden  I am so thankful for the large house,comforts and freedoms that we take for granted.

In the preface she goes on to talk about how daily living is like for Palestinians, having to walk around with a card and curfews, it sounds alarmingly worse than what Apartheid inflicted on the African citizen.

The first chapter: From here you can see Egypt- The Gaza Strip

There is a diagram on the opposite page of the first chapter at first I search for Gaza and I can't seem to find it, then I look closely and i find it, I am horrified at how small it is in comparision to the rest of Israel, the author goes on to describe it's size and the population, I wonder what the population must have soared to now & how do they live there in present times.

She speaks about the hopelessness of Gaza, the poor conditions of gaza, its land and its people, the psychologial effect of the refugees, the rise of suicides, the rise of illiteracy, the struggles of daily life for these refugees.

She narrates these refugees lives, it is sad, makes me really depressed but somehow these people continue to live, she talks about her encounter with the 'American Soldiers'  which speaks volumes of how uninformed or ill-formed or their lack of the reality of the seriousness of ths situation which is most astounding.
She narrates how the prisioners are tortured and the only thing that goes through my head are those dehumanizing pictures of the prisioners at Guantanimo Bay.

The suicide cases makes me realize how desperate some of these refugees conditions are, that they would go to such torturous measure to take their own lives.

She speaks about Hamas and I realize that Hamas has really grown from the early views that Palestinians had of them, it is amazing!

She narrates how a man stands by a fence that seperates him from his family every day just to speak to his family, yet he cannot touch them or hug them, kiss his mother.He is stuck in Gaza and his family on the other side of the fence in Egypt.

As I read this chapter i keep wondering what is the situation like today???

The thing that really tugs at my heart is how ready the Palestinians are for death, thorughout this book I learnt how the Palestinians have no definate idea of how time goes, they are always younger than they really are or for many of them they are really not sure, for them time hasn't really gone because they are still in exactly the same situation.

The other thing that is remarkable is that the Palestinians have been suffering for so very many decade yet they still so hopeful that their situation will change... because that is how history works! Can you imagine??? They have such hope yet they are living the worst human tragedy.. I feel so bad for them, I feel so pessimistic regarding their situation yet they are so optimistic that some day everything is going to change for them. if they can be so positive then what gives me the right to be doubtful.

This book has really opened my eyes to the endless hardships that the Palestinians have been through and still live through.

A childs struggle to go to school, the torture of men and women.

We have so much to be grateful for, My prayer for the Palestinians is Justice for its people, relief from their sufferings and pain and a bright future for its youth, AMEEN!                                                                                                                                                                                 

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