Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood

The family waits on the hot roadside hoping for a ride to Jordan. Ibtisam is exhausted and her feet are cut and bruised. Mother acts distant, and Ibtisam wishes she were more engaged. Father promises to stop whatever vehicle approaches. He enjoins other men to help him make a human roadblock. They stop a water tanker truck. Men climb aboard the outside. Ibtisam clutches the door handle, and her brothers swarm onto the windshield. Father yells at the driver to let his family in, or one of the other men will shoot out the truck tires. The driver angrily complies. Ibtisam, her mother, Maha, and her brothers pile inside the cab with the driver, his wife Hamameh, and their three children. Ibtisam watches Father, who clings to the outside of the truck, directing the driver when to slow down. Though Hamameh starts out cursing Mother, the two become friends.

Vehicles and people on foot crowd the bridge crossing the Jordan River, heading to promised refugee shelters in Jordan. The water truck crosses safely, leaving the West Bank as warplanes continue to fire. The families arrive in the city of Al-Salt: The women and children go to a shelter while Father and the truck driver leave to find how they can help against the invasion. Father promises to visit and contact them often.

The shelter is a three-story home packed with anxious women and children. Sirens sound before and after bombings, causing chaos inside as people run up and down the stairs reporting on the destruction they witness outside. Ibtisam’s feet hurt too much for her to run. She seeks refuge in the basement and discovers a baby donkey she immediately loves and names Souma. Stray dogs investigate the shelter, and people shoot them to warn them away, which makes Ibtisam cry because they are also refugees. The women share memories about the war of 1948.

Ibtisam and her family settle into the shelter. Ibtisam’s foot is painfully swollen, but her mother grumpily tells her to stop crying or she will go blind. Ibtisam closes her eyes and realizes that she can vividly see things from her memory, like the stacked stone people, qantara, her father created. Ibtisam now understands why her mother’s favorite word is “imagine.” Ibtisam can imagine anything, anytime, and make the war less frightening.

Hamameh and Mother develop a sisterly relationship and vow to help each other if their husbands do not return. Six days later, a man brings news that the war has ended, but their losses are terrible. Soon, only Hamameh and Mother and their families are left in the shelter. Um and Abu Muhammad, the homeowners, return and offer to let them stay indefinitely, but Hamameh’s uncle arrives to take them home. Hamameh invites Mother and her family to stay with her: Mother accepts. Ibtisam wants to take Souma until she understands that the donkey would not want to leave its home.

Ibtisam’s family sleeps in the kitchen of Hamameh’s small home. Father and Hamameh’s husband return. The families cannot yet go home to the West Bank. Father has a job driving a truck and delivering soda pop. The truck’s owner, Abu Omar, lets Father stay in a room of his home. Father worries about Ibtisam’s foot, which is now swollen and purple. They take Ibtisam to the hospital, a large building filled with harsh odors. Ibtisam’s injury is serious, and she must remain overnight for treatment. The family promises to stay with her, and Father promises her candy. When she awakens from the anesthesia, her family is not there. Father and her brothers arrive with the pledged candy, but Ibtisam is disappointed not to see Mother and wonders if Ibtisam and her brothers are interchangeable to Mother. Father, in contrast, makes Ibtisam feel loved for herself.

Ibtisam will not leave Father, so he takes her to spend the night at his room in Abu Omar’s house. Abu Omar’s three adult daughters try to coax Ibtisam with candy and toys to stay with them while Father works, but Ibtisam refuses. Father takes her on his delivery rounds until her foot heals, and she does not feel like she needs to always be with him. Ibtisam gets a new pair of boots that she is allowed to wear anytime. Her brothers teach her how to tie the laces.

When a neighborhood boy is nearly struck by a car, Mother wants to move somewhere safer. Father agrees but lacks money for a house, which are in short supply. Mother hopes to get a permit from the International Red Cross to return to Ramallah, but Hamameh wonders about safety, as the cities are occupied by the Israeli military. Ibtisam’s family temporarily moves into a school that is being used as refugee housing. The children accidentally knock down a large classroom chalkboard. Mother shows Ibtisam how to draw Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, which is a vertical stroke topped by a circle. Ibtisam loves Alef and carries the chalk, with Alef inside, everywhere. Mother misses Hamameh.

Father, working a second job, moves the family to a one-room home. Their window faces the town center. Ibtisam watches men smoke and play games at the coffee shop and people buying goods at the crammed grocery. Although Mother makes bread daily, lentils—which the children hate, and Mother physically forces them to eat—are the only food they can afford. On Fridays, they drive to a stream where women wash clothes, men hunt porcupines, and children play. Ibtisam sees an older boy attempt to abduct Basel. The boy’s attempt fails, and his father beats him. Father decides Ibtisam, Basel, and Muhammad must now stay home for their safety. They are sad to lose their freedom, but Father brings water home for them to play in.

Mother takes Maha to a nearby herbalist, leaving Ibtisam to watch over her brothers, despite them being older. Ibtisam ran out of chalk and misses Alef but knows she will see him again when she goes to school.

A man pushes a cart of fresh basbooseh—sweet, syrup-soaked semolina cakes—into view. Ibtisam and her brothers are hungry. When the pastry man is distracted, Basel and Muhammad push the heavy cart to their house. Ibtisam opens the door, and they carry the tray of pastries inside, locking the door behind them. They eat every pastry. The pastry man yells and pounds at the door. Mother urges them to open up. A crowd gathers. Finally, the landlord opens the door with a key. The pastry man is furious, but the crowd urges him to have pity on the hungry refugees, saying God will repay his loss. Some shopkeepers offer him a small amount of money. The man argues that his children also need to eat and declares Mother must pay for the pastries.

Mother is incensed. She pinches the children and twists their ears. Father is also furious with their theft, arguing that they are guests in Jordan. He beats them with a belt, striping their backs. Their transgression is forgotten when the radio announces their family’s name as one allowed back in Ramallah. The family is overjoyed to be going home and ignores their neighbors’ apprehension. The pastry man forgives them.