1. Amiry proves that the stereotypes of the Israeli and Palestinian people are misguided. Salim, Suad's husband, treats her very well. The same goes for many other Palestinian husbands. Suad is an educated architect. Despite that stereotype that Israeli and Palestinian’s hate each other, the book proves that not to be the case. Suad takes an Israeli man to the hospital due to a heart attack proving that compassion, at times, can override territories. She chooses an Israeli vet for her dog, Nura.

1.1 Suad chose the Israeli vet because she felt that Dr. Hisham was sexist for taking so long to give Nura her vaccines due to her being a female dog. She was able to get better medicine for Nura. This is a big deal because Nura enjoys more political rights than her owner. Suad's West Bank I.D. does not allow her to travel from Ramallah to Jerusalem, although Nura can. Suad paints the picture of the irony that an animal can get a passport quickly, whereas, it can take the Palestinian people years to obtain one.

2. With the occupation of Ramallah under Israel, the curfew made day to day living challenging to say the least. During curfew the Palestinian people lived on lock down in their homes. This was a challenge because there were entire families living in small confined spaces. When curfew would lift the streets would become so crowded and the grocery stores would become chaotic. Suad seemed to find humor with the invasion, however, Um Salim, seemed to be more of a challenge for her. Um Salim would get confused and fret over small things. Um Salim would go on countless stories that Suad was tired of hearing. Um Salim worried over her possession, no matter how inconsequential they seemed to be.

2.1 The Six Day War in 1967 designated the Gaza Strip and territories along the West Bank as occupied territories. It is my understanding that Israel felt like the the territories were not allowing them to exist in peace. And the Israeli's felt like the territories were their land to begin with. The fighting seemed to cease for about 20 years, but then picked back up around 2000. Israel trying to curtail terrorist violence, started building the separation wall and increasing roadblocks and checkpoints. Palestinians suffered from Israel’s attempts to stop attacks and Israel suffered from endless suicide bombings.

3. Suad describes the security measures as daunting. It took so long to get permits, sometimes needing more than one permit, and documentation to travel out of Ramallah. She feels that the checkpoints are senseless. Simple things like buying groceries turns into a long process. I believe that Israel was made safer in some respects. The bombings were much less frequent. However, with the Second Intifada that was still going on in 2003 neither country was safe. Thousand's of Palestinian’s died while hundred's of Israeli's died. The Second Intifada was much deadlier than the first. Ariel Sharon was re-elected in 2003, but Israel's government was having in-house fighting and the economy was suffering.

3.1 Suad felt like the Palestinians suffered greatly from the wall being put in place. She felt like this created a tremendous hardship on Palestine vs. keeping Israel safe. The wall seems to make prisoners out of the Palestinian people on the West Bank. She did not agree with the checkpoints being randomly placed. I can see both sides of the coin with Israel and Palestine. Both feel like they have rights to this land. Israel wants to remain safe from terrorists and the Palestinians on the West Bank wanted to continue to live their normal lives and move about freely. I do agree that the checkpoints should have been placed more strategically close to the wall.

3.2 Anyone over the age of twelve must obtain special residency permits from the Israeli military in order to remain in their homes. Workers who work in Israel have to have special permits so they can cross over and go to their jobs. Palestinian residents who require acute medical care must obtain a special permit to travel to a central hospital. Egypt is right below Israel so for a person to travel from the West Bank to Egypt they would have to go through Israel.

3.3 The soap factory was historic. Suad felt like their heritage was slowly being erased. The soap factory did not have all of the strict rules in place that the other business’s did.

3.4 Suad was a rebel of sorts. Her personality rubbed the soldiers the wrong way. So in a sense, they tore it up because they could. She would stare at the soldiers and they did not like that.

4. Suad dealt with the occupation with finding humor in the absurdity of it all. Like when she gave the the soldier the excuse the Nura could not driver herself to Jerusalem and needed Suad to drive her. She found humor with Salim and his cousin getting arrested not for breaking rules but for the mere fact that she would not stop staring at a soldier. Humor was how she survived.

4.1 Rami felt like he could seek revenge on his classmates if he became a collaborator. Collaborators felt like they would get easier access to Israel but were looked upon as traitors by the Palestinians.

5.1The thing that surprised me the most about Budrus were the women. They seemed more fearless than the men on some occasions. I had to laugh when the women would say to the one female Israeli soldier, "Yasina, come join us." I was also surprised at how peaceful the Palestinian people tried to protest.

5.2 Both sides want peace. By watching the movie it seemed as so many olive trees were being destroyed but, in the end, the protestors were able to save most of the trees. The lives of the Palestinians living on the West Bank have been torn apart. Villages have disappeared. There are food shortages. Schools have been closed down. 5.3 The young women were excited and wanted to protest. They offered protection because the Israeli soldiers would not hit nor shoot a female with rubber bullets. It seemed the Israeli thought the Palestinian men were using the women as shields not realizing that the women were adamant on joining the protest and protecting what was theirs. Ayed encouraged his daughter to speak out. Her speaking out gave the other women the courage to do so.

5.4 The Hamas leaders support the non-violent protest. They feel it gives the world a chance to see that they are not violent terrorists. The villagers are only trying to protect what they feel is theirs.

5.5 They were right beside the Palestinian forces protesting. They understood the hardship that the wall would put on the villages.