Sharon and my Mother-in-Law by Suad Amiry

Suad Amiry is the founder and director of the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah.  Born to Palestinian parents in Amman, Jordan, she lived there while growing up and then studied architecture in Beirut, Lebanon.  She then moved to Ramallah in 1981, eventually got married and founded Riwaq as a way to preserve historical Palestinian buildings.

As a way of relieving the stress of occupation, she would write email letters to her friends during the 2nd Intifada about living under curfew and neighborhood events.  Specifically, she would tell them about her frustration with living under the same roof as her mother-in-law for forty days during the curfew.  As the curfews took place while Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister of Israeli, she attributes the fact that she needs to live with her mother-in-law to him. She later wrote about about the events when she first moved to Ramallah and her struggle to gain permanent residency in the West Bank.  These two parts were put together and now make up the book Sharon and my Mother-in-Law.


The Observer calls it 'A refreshingly funny account of the absurdities of everyday life in occupied territories'.

Amiry takes the normal, everyday facts of occupation, which most people living here have gotten used to, and points out their ridiculous nature.  From her dog Nura who is given a passport for Jerusalem (a thing which Amiry and other West Bank Palestinians only wish for), to an Israeli soldier who takes Amiry's husband in for questioning after Amiry would not stop looking at him, something the soldier seemed was extremely threatening, to the days spent inside doing nothing while living under curfew, to the nine years it took Amiry to gain an Identity Card to live in the West Bank, she touches on every aspect of life in the occupied territories.

Although, I would not recommend this book as primer to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, for those with significant knowledge, it is an easy read and offers a new perspective on the occupation.  For readers who have not visited Palestine, it will shed light on the everyday complications created by the occupation, the complications which make life here so strenuous.

I first was interested in Amiry after watching her speech at last year's TEDx in Ramallah.  It is an excellent and inspiring video. Click HERE to watch.

Click HERE to buy Sharon and my Mother-in-Law in the US.