Ibtisam's Story

Tasting The Sky by Ibtisam Barakat Video by: Jaileessa Casimir

"When you look at your life,the greatest love is family love" Pgs 25-28; 82,83; 156,157 I like these parts of the book because it’s very heart warming. It how much family means to her. She cares for every single one of her family and together they'll do whatever it takes to protect each other. Through these traumatic experiences, family support and love is what they only need.

We would rate this book, Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat, 5 stars because for one it tells us how the war was like between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Also it gives us the point of view from Ibtisam views as a child going through war. This book helps the readers understand what war was like for a child whom at the time was 3 years old. We did not only witness what she went through during war, but also the repercussions of the war and how it affect her and her family throughout the years. The war devastated their lives and tore them away from all they know which was home. We would recommend this book to everyone and not just to children.

Fighting continues on the border of Golan.

June 7 U.N. Security Council presents a cease-fire initiative. Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser turns it down. Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eskol proposes to Jordan's King Hussein that a cease-fire and peace talks begin. Hussein doesn't respond. Bir al-Hasna and Al Qazima in Egypt are claimed by Israel. Old City of Jerusalem, Nablus and Jericho are among those places that fall in Jordan. Jordanian forces are ordered to retreat. Fighting between Syria and Israel continues on the border of Golan.

June 6 Syrian forces fortify the border with Israel and begin artillery fire. Israel takes Gaza, Ras el Naqeb and Jebel Libni from Egypt. Ramallah, North East Jerusalem, Ammunition Hill and Talpiot are among areas Israeli forces capture. Jordanian forces are ordered to retreat from West Bank.

Jordan and Iraq attempt airstrikes against Tel Aviv. Jordan also begins artillery fire against the city.

Palestinian Map

The flag was symbol of liberation and unity f the Arab nation, and was established after the Arab-Isreali War in 1498, which was part of the Palestine war. Though Ibtisam felt the recoil of the war, Ibtisam's mother tried keep her sheltered from this part of her reality. "I never learned about how the Palestinian flag are arranged...I see it for seconds only, before the hand that holds [Palestinian flag] shot by Israeli soldiers," She accounts.

Palestinian culture is heavily associated with books, poems, stories and folk stories as a way of sustaining and honoring their identity. A common Palestinian/Arab proverb states: The cheapest pen is better than memory

Ibtisam's brothers had to get circumcisions, which is a Palestinian ceremony that makes a boy into a "man."

Worn by women that conforms to a certain standard of modesty

"To celebrate their regained freedom, my brothers wanted to build a kite." -Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat