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A review by happiestwhenreading
They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom by Dena Takruri, Ahed Tamimi
5.0
I’ll never stop reading to learn, and this book taught me a lot about the Palestinian perspective of the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As an American, I think it’s fairly easy to find information from an Israeli perspective considering we’re one of Israel’s main allies. That was why I was especially interested in picking up this book.
In this unflinching memoir, Tamimi provides us with insight into daily life as a Palestinian. Under Israeli occupation, they have very little freedom over their lives. They do not get to travel freely, participate in elections, and are constantly bombarded by Israeli soldiers at all hours of the day and night.
Through nonviolent protests, Tamimi slowly began to gain courage in the face of her oppressors and when a video of her slapping an Israeli officer went viral, she quickly became a voice and freedom fighter for Palestine. Eventually arrested, Tamimi spent eight months in an Israeli military prison where she was also able to study international law and international humanitarian law. She was only 16 years old.
Upon release, her determination and desire to see Palestine free only intensified. She is internationally known for her resistance. This book was written in 2021, two years before the Hamas attack on Jewish kibbutz, so the hopeful ending felt a little misguided now.
Ultimately, this book is a good introduction to the conflict and how we got to where things stood up until about three months ago. It’s clear there are a lot of layers to this conflict, and surely peace would have been achieved by now if the answer was simple. I can only hope, along with the innocent civilians of Israel and Palestine, that peace can be achieved in this region.
In this unflinching memoir, Tamimi provides us with insight into daily life as a Palestinian. Under Israeli occupation, they have very little freedom over their lives. They do not get to travel freely, participate in elections, and are constantly bombarded by Israeli soldiers at all hours of the day and night.
Through nonviolent protests, Tamimi slowly began to gain courage in the face of her oppressors and when a video of her slapping an Israeli officer went viral, she quickly became a voice and freedom fighter for Palestine. Eventually arrested, Tamimi spent eight months in an Israeli military prison where she was also able to study international law and international humanitarian law. She was only 16 years old.
Upon release, her determination and desire to see Palestine free only intensified. She is internationally known for her resistance. This book was written in 2021, two years before the Hamas attack on Jewish kibbutz, so the hopeful ending felt a little misguided now.
Ultimately, this book is a good introduction to the conflict and how we got to where things stood up until about three months ago. It’s clear there are a lot of layers to this conflict, and surely peace would have been achieved by now if the answer was simple. I can only hope, along with the innocent civilians of Israel and Palestine, that peace can be achieved in this region.