Apeirogon - a book by the Irish writer Colum McCain.
Apeirogon - definition - a geometric figure with an infinite but countable number of sides.
The result - the book is very complicated, contains a lot of inserts that have nothing to do with the main topic. As a result, while reading, I used the Internet many times and ... hit the table, the scissors will ring - says a Polish proverb.
It turned out that the two heroes of this very dramatic story are in Australia -
CLICK
Their history in a nutshell:
Rami Elhanan - an Israelite, his father - a Jew who immigrated to Israel from Hungary in 1947.
Wife - Nurit Peled - daughter of a prominent Israeli general (6-day war 1967).
Rami served as a member of tank team during the Yom Kippur War in 1974.
In 1997, his 14-year-old daughter, Smadar, was killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing on the streets of Jerusalem.
A few years later, he joined Combatants for Peace -
CLICK - an organisation of Israeli and Palestinian activists fighting non-violently to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Bassam Aramin - Palestinian.
He has witnessed Israeli violence in his immediate neighbourhood since he was a child.
When he was 17 years old, he and his friends placed found by chance grenades under Israeli vehicles, an explosion took place, no one was killed.
Soon Bassam was captured and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
In prison, he was brutally beaten by Israeli soldiers, for whom it was a regular training. The beatings continued in the prison hospital.
Also in prison, he watched the film Schindler's List -
CLICK - from which he learned about the fate of Jews during the Holocaust.
His first reaction was joy - YES! YES! - even more!
After a few years, still in prison, came a completely opposite reflection.
He became aware of the suffering of the Jewish people. What struck him was the impression that the victims of the Holocaust seemed to accept their fate without violent protest.
He began to study the subject, learned the Hebrew language.
In 2005, Bassam joined Combatants for Peace and met Rami there.
Two years later, his daughter Abir was shot with a rubber bullet by an Israeli patrol.
The nearest hospital was unable to help her, so it was decided to transfer her to a hospital in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian ambulance took more than 2 hours to cover several kilometres due to the long wait at the Israeli checkpoint.
Two days later Abir died in the hospital.
Abir and Smadar...
Since then, Bassam and Rami have traveled to many places spreading the idea of reconciliation.
They were in Melbourne a few days ago.
I learned about their visit on Friday (5/26/23) evening.
The event organizer's website reported that tickets were sold out, but you can sign up for a waiting list.
I signed up.
On Monday at 5pm I got a notification that they had some tickets.
For me they had, start 6:30.
Getting to the center of Melbourne at this time is not very easy - by car to the city train station, by train to the city center, a few tram stops - I AM THERE!
A snapshot of a tram ride.
Crowded, mostly young people, students.
An older lady is standing in the middle of this crowd, there is nothing to grab onto and the tram brakes quite hard.
"You can hold on to me," - offers the young girl next to her.
- Can I? Really? - the old lady catches the girl in her arms, hugs her, puts her head on her shoulder and closes her eyes with a blissful smile.
The Wheelers Center adjacent to our State Library turned out to be very modest...
It was only then that I realized how hard it was to practically grasp the idea Rami and Bassam were fighting for.
I knew that Rami and his family in particular were heavily attacked by the Israeli right-wing media.
I am not surprised that in such a situation it is difficult to gain popularity in other countries.
Bassam and Rami mentioned that they visited Israeli and Palestinian schools in Australia.
They met a rather cold understanding, on the margins they noticed signs of hostility.
My personal impression.
First of all, I realized that I was unlikely to learn anything new, but I had a feeling that something important was happening just around the corner and I wanted to at least get a glimpse of it.
Unfortunately, I did not have the courage of the older lady from the tram.
Secondly - Bassam and Rami - seemed a bit tired of these many performances, especially Rami.
Bassam still had a good sense of humor.
When asked by the host of the meeting whether Rami is his friend, he replied - Rami - a friend?
Rami is my enemy - he's Israeli, doesn't speak Arabic and doesn't smoke!
To the question - why are you doing this? - Rami replied - every morning when I wake up I see Smadar above me. She looks at me reproachfully - it's so late and you haven't done anything to end it yet. And so on until the end of the day.
Bassam nodded wordlessly.
Third, specifics.
The government of Israel - they both had no doubt - if we reject violence, it's all in the hands of the Israeli government.
Rami - it is a right wing fascist government. The opposition is practically non-existent. The only Israeli government that offered any hope of normalizing relations between Israel and Palestine was that of Yitzhak Rabin in 1974-77.
Let me remind you that in later years Y. Rabin was the leader of the left-wing parliamentary opposition. In 1995, he was murdered by a right-wing extremist.
The government of occupied Palestine - Rami waved his hand resignedly - if the Palestinian president wants to visit his old home in another occupation zone, he has to ask the Israeli administration for a pass.
And also Rami - our youth, when they reach 16, they go for trips to Auschwitz, there they march shouting - Never again!
Upon their return to Israel, their mandatory military service awaits them, and there they are trained to carry out checks on the Palestinian population.
After sorting out my impressions, I went back to reading.
Apeirogon - infinite but countable.
In the case of a book, it is 1001 chapters.
The first 500 chapters are numbered from 1 to 500, the next 500 - vice versa, the last chapter - no number - a picture of rippling water
My main objection to the author - the book lacks a smooth narrative that would reflect the atmosphere of life in Israel and Palestine, instead, it is random short reports, as if copied from the Internet.
I've adapted to it. Below are some such relations.
As a result of the terrorist attack in which Smadar was killed, 3 more people and three bombers died.
The attackers were disguised as women.
The day after the attack, the families of the terrorists had to leave their homes, which were concreted.
There are rumors that they have taken up residence in new homes purchased for them by the Iranian government.
The parents of the girl, who also died in the attack, sued in the US the Iranian government for organizing the attack.
The court upheld their complaint and awarded $1.7 million in damages.
The Iranian government did not pay.
Press coverage after Abir's death.
The victim's father works for Combatants for Peace...
The victim's father spent several years in prison for terrorist activities.
The army has released an official declaration that it has nothing to do with this case...
Palestinian protests took place in the vicinity of the event...
The victim of the incident was seen holding a stone in her hand...
She was killed by a stone thrown by a protesting crowd...
She was shot by Palestinian police...
She had an epileptic seizure and hit her head on the cobblestones...
Stones were found in her pockets...
She died as a result of the explosion of a grenade she was holding in her hand...
Staff at a Palestinian hospital dropped her from a wheelchair and smashed her head...
Her Muslim parents refused to be treated by an Israeli doctor...
Four years later, during a trial in civil court, a female judge questioned the report that Abir had been killed with a stone fired from a slingshot by Palestinian boys hiding in a nearby cemetery. She pointed out that the cemetery was 100m away and was hidden by a 4-story building.
An additional argument - rubber bullets were found on the ground, a few steps from the accident site.
The result of the trial - Bassam received compensation - 1 million shekels (approx. $ 270,000).
Bassam always carried in his pocket a candy bracelet that Abir had bought on a trip to the store.
Maybe such...
When he left work, he would put his hand in his pocket and run his fingers over the candy.
One day he was driving home from work.
Moving checkpoint...
- Show me your hands! Show your hands!!
Israeli soldier, elderly woman, gray strands of hair. Bassam thought she spoke with a Russian accent. Suddenly she aimed a gun at him...
- What the fuck is this?
Bassam twisted his hands, noticed that they were slightly tinted pink, smelled sweet.
- On your knees, on your fucking knees!
Bassam knelt by the road. He turned his face to the east so that when the time came he could pray.
The thought of licking his hand crossed his mind, but he remembered that it was Ramadan, the time of fasting.
- Pull up your shirt, pull up your shirt, I repeat!
For a moment he felt no shame, even in front of a woman, anger smothering decency.
The butt of the rifle hit him near the kidneys, pushed him forward, he felt dust on his face, the woman put self-locking handcuffs on his wrists. She grabbed him by the hair and pushed him into an army car.
Five hours later, still at the station, the woman relented, she was sorry, but Sentex, the explosive used to make the bombs, was staining hands pin.
Zones in Palestinian territories:
A - administered by the Palestinian Authority, unrestricted access for Israeli military patrols, Israeli law prohibits entry to Israeli citizens.
B - administered by the Palestinian Authority, both sides responsible for security, open to Israelis and Palestinians.
C - areas inhabited by Israeli settlers (the UN considers it illegal) and Palestinians (mainly farmers). Israeli-administered zone.
In addition, there are 4 smaller zones H1, H2, E1. Seam Zone - see footnotes.
Apeirogon - a geometric figure with an infinite but countable number of sides.
The counter is still ticking - 5/6/2023 - a 3-year-old Palestinian boy shot by an Israeli patrol has died -
CLICK.
P.S. You can watch a video of the meeting with Rami and Bassam
HERE.
Note: actual interview starts at about 4 minutes of the video.
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
