In honor of the holy month of Ramadan observed by Muslims worldwide, host Marcela Sulak reads an essay by Iman Jmal, a graduate student at Bar-Ilan University. Jmal is from Jatt in northern Israel and she writes about preparing a Ramadan meal with her mother, the shopping for which they must travel through a checkpoint.

Here is an excerpt from her story “The Meal”:

“When I call upon the soldiers and say that Mom forgot her ID, they get angry. One soldier says “Then go back home and find your mom’s ID and she will stay with us until you come again and show us that she is really an Israeli citizen!” My stomach would digest anything in the world but not this sentence. We argue for a while and they say that they could check on the computer to investigate mom’s ID number. She recited it to them with a great Hebrew accent, but it is all in vain.”

Music:
Approaching the Bridge – The Bridge Project
Notre Wagon – The Bridge Project

Photo: Afif H. Amireh/FLASH90