Mornings in Jenin

Amal returns to work, where she is known by her colleagues as cold and efficient. She shuts down all her emotions, only allowing herself to enjoy witnessing Sara growing into a beautiful young girl. Amal holds back her love, however, afraid to taint her with “the vulgar breath of my fate” (248). Amal buys a house and soothes herself by refurbishing it by hand. There, she reads to the sleeping Sara from Gibran’s The Prophet in the early mornings, as her father did with her.

The years 1987 to 1994 mark the duration of the first Intifada, or uprising, by Palestinians in protest of decades of Israeli occupation. The Palestinians use sticks and stones to show their anger, and Israel retaliates with “might, force and beatings” (249) as directed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Amal includes a long extract from Norman Finkelstein’s The Rise and Fall of Palestine, detailing the kidnapping, detention, torture, and brutal beatings of many Palestinian children by Israeli forces. Their parents are often asked to pay ransoms for their return.

This is the case of Huda and Osama’s youngest son, six-year-old Mansour, who is held for a week until his parents can find him and pay the ransom.