Amiry and Hasan-Rokem Articles

I thought one of the most moving moments was the excerpt about the ability for the dog to obtain a Jerusalem citizenship permit and how she seriously wanted her picture to be put on the passport, not the dog’s.  It was so easy for the dog to obtain the passport yet so hard for other people to be able to travel across the border.  Also, I was offended just as Amiry was when Dr. Hisham did not want to give Antar the anti-rabbies vaccine because she was a female dog.  The female dog is not worthy of the vaccine just as certain people are not deemed “worthy” or just cannot obtain a passport to cross the borders freely.

A small detail in “the Promised Gas Masks” also caught my attention.  The narrator was talking about how the Israelis always ordered the Palestinians to get into straight lines.  “ ‘No one will get their tasreekh unless you stand in a straight line.  No one will pass through the checkpoint unless you stand in a straight line…No one…unless…a straight line.’  Have you ever seen a natural straight line?” (90).  This struck me as a math major (and as any human being) that straight lines do not exist in nature.  In fact, one strategy used by pilots and satellites analysts is looking for straight lines to find manmade objects.  The reason I this excerpt struck me is because I think it is a very good analogy to this situation.  It is not natural for one group of human beings to have this type of control over other human beings. 

Questions:

1)      Do you think there is a difference in perspectives on this conflict between feminists and other males and females who do not deem themselves as feminists?

2)      With the excerpt about how Dr. Hisham questions whether he should give Antar the vaccine correspond to how women in general are viewed in this area?  Or, in other words, what was the point Amiry was trying to make in including this in her book?

3)      Where do you see this conflict going in the next 10 years?