Sharon and her mother in law

I shifted back in my seat as I was reading Suad Amiry. It was chapter 17 of her book Sharon and my mother in law: Ramallah diaries, she was describing an incident at the end of the second gulf war (1991). I glanced over my screen to the book cabinet beyond, a faint memory of a time long ago. Yes, I was four years old living in Riyadh with my family back then. 1991, Riyadh was in a panic as the war was raging between the US and Iraq. Saudi Arabia at that time was allied with the US against Iraq. I remember one thing too clearly, I remember the turbulence of the war. We lived in an apartment building complex back then. Both my parents moved into my room as they prepared for the unexpected. I recall asking my mother why, only to see her smile back. The sirens would sound every day, sometimes more than once.

Then one day the siren buzzed. I stood up in my crib and started yelling, and yelling to no avail. Soon afterwards my dad woke up with fear shot through his eyes. We stumbled over the furniture to the building's bomb shelter, the lowest room in the building. Riyadh was hit, a school 15 mins away was bombed. Fortunately for everyone it was past midnight.

Suad Amiry in her book recalls the time when the Palestinians of Ramallah were promised gas masks for protection from the missiles coming from Iraq. Saddam at that time threatened and bombed Israel with scud missiles. She describes the attitudes and emotions of the people as everyone gathers after a curfew. The "Urrus" people had drinking bitter coffee in the lines waiting to get on the buses so they could get the masks. The "fetish" soldiers had for making them stand in straight lines. And finally the time they were told off with no masks by the Israeli soldiers.

Suad later on in chapter 9 describes the hassles she had to go through for getting her dog's vaccine shots. She is jealous of her dog, that she was able to get a Jerusalem passport. Her attitude is very admirable-- she's taking her life a day at a time.

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Link to NY times article on Ramallah gas mask distribution: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DA1030F932A15752C0A967958260

Link to NY times article on Riyadh bombing:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD71F3AF932A15752C0A967958260&scp=1&sq=iraqi+attack+bomb+on+riyadh&st=nyt

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