A Day in the Life of Abed Salama - More Palestinian Sadness

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy

By: Nathan Thrall Published: 2023 272 Pages

Briefly, what is this book about?

The book operates on three levels:

First, the book spends quite a bit of time giving you Abed's history: his youth, his participation in the Palestinian resistance, his marriages, the associated family dynamics, etc.

Second, there's the actual "day" from the title. Abed's desperate search for his son after he was involved in a horrific bus accident, and the various difficulties presented by Israeli control (checkpoints, different passes, separate roads, etc.)

Third, there's everything beyond Abed and the "day". Including the backstory on how the roads were routed, the walls were built, and the rules implemented by the Israelis. The book also contains histories on dozens of characters, including Abed's many loves, an Israeli colonel who designed the wall, ultra-Orthodox volunteer rescuers, and Israeli settlers living in the area. I found the story of Huda Dahbour, who works as a physician with a UNRWA mobile clinic, to be particularly interesting. She also has a child involved in the wreck, and has to deal with a tragedy that's depressing for both its similarity to and differences from Abed's.

Taken all together, it's a level of tragedy, complexity, poverty, and culture that's hard to process for someone living in relative ease on the other side of the world.

What authorial biases should I be aware of?

The book is clearly centered on the Palestinian side of things, and it's obvious that Thrall largely views the Israelis as being immoral, unjust, and using their greater power to impose ridiculous restrictions. That said, he does offer sympathetic accounts of some Israelis, but most of his sympathy is reserved for the Palestinians.

Who should read this book?