The Attack

Amin has passed through the wall, into Palestine. In Jenin, he is surrounded by violence and destruction. He is told about how “the tanks opened fire on the kids who were throwing stones at them. Goliath stomping David, everywhere you looked” (129). Amin feels traumatized. Surrounded by death and destruction, he sees a foreign TV crew and a carful of men with AK47s rush by. He hears gunshots in the distance, followed by silence. His cousin and guide, Jamil, steers him through the dangerous scene. They see food and medical supplies distributed to ghost-like survivors who have lost their homes. They walk the final stretch on foot, only to discover that Khalil—Jamil’s brother and the man they are meeting—has left for Nablus. Adel had been staying with Khalil, Amin’s only lead. 

Amin finds a hotel room. He opens the window in the tiny room and watches a group of boys throw rocks at a tank. They scatter when the soldiers open fire. When the clouds of tear gas fade, people gather around a dead body. Amin closes the window and goes to find Jamil, who advises him to stay in his hotel room until Khalil contacts him. Amin watches “pitched battles from the window” (133) in his room, his heart sinking. He visited Jenin many times in his youth. The city has been devastated. Amin’s sleep is interrupted by the knock on his door, signaling the arrival of a visitor. He finds a teenage boy, sent by Khalil to fetch him. 

Amin follows the teenager through the rubble, past an armed guard and men cleaning their rifles. Amin meets a tall man in a too-small jacket, who accuses him of working for Israeli intelligence. Amin is told that his trip to Bethlehem caused quite the sensation; Amin, terrified, is forced to kneel at gunpoint. This is the end of the line, he is told; Khalil fled as soon as he heard Amin was coming. Amin tries to defend himself and denies being a spy. The man leaves. Amin is handcuffed, gagged, blindfolded, and thrown in the trunk of a car. He believes that he is going to die. He is ashamed that he submitted so easily.

Amin is locked away in a cave with no light and no window. The next day, he is bound and blindfolded again and taken in the trunk of a car to a place where “death has a strong stench” (138). Just before he is executed, a radio message tells the soldiers to spare his life. He is taken back to the cave. The same routine occurs the next day and then, for six days, he is left alone in the dark cave. On the seventh day, a commander appears and hands Amin a gun. He tells Amin to shoot him as he hast the right. Amin refuses to touch the pistol. The commander reveals that he wanted Amin to experience the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people. Amin is given new clothes and is told that he is free to go; Adel is waiting in a car outside. 

The commander again insists that he has tortured Amin to make Amin understand why he has taken up arms. He says that Sihem understand that death becomes the ultimate salvation and that Amin should respect her choice. Then, the commander leaves. Amin wonders whether he is dreaming or being tricked. Adel enters and Amin cannot help but sob. As they talk, Adel says that he did not want Sihem to blow herself up but no one could dissuade her. She provided a great deal of help, Adel says, and many important meetings were held in Amin’s home. Amin asks Adel whether they were ever anything more than comrades in arms. Adel forcefully denies ever being romantically involved with Sihem, calling her a saint. Amin believes Adel. He is too weak to travel, so Adel sits beside him and begins to cry. 

Without realizing it, Amin takes Adel’s hand and the two talk for a long time. Adel had long worked with the Intifada and, one day, Sihem discovered Adel’s documents and a gun. Adel panicked, worried that he may have to kill her, but instead she asked to join the cause. From that moment on, she was committed to her course of action in the name of freedom. While Amin argues that Sihem was already free, Adel says that she sought the freedom of her people. She could not bear Amin’s blindness toward the cause any longer. The only way she could atone was by joining the cause. Amin struggles to absorb this message. Finally, Amin is ready to leave; he does not want to stop and see anyone as he does not identify with Adel’s people. 

They step outside into the sunlight, greeted by Wissam, the grandson of Omr, Amin’s great-uncle. Amin can recall Wissam as a baby but the boy now stands a head taller than Amin. The pistol stashed in Wissam’s belt breaks Amin’s heart. Adel leaves, turning to Amin “with eyes full of darkness” (148) and offering an apology. Amin is sorry too. Amin is driven back to the hotel by Wissam, unable to stop thinking about the dark look on Adel’s face. Nevertheless, he feels as though he has reached the end of his journey. He has learned and found nothing. He hopes he can get back to his patients soon; helping them is the only war he feels is worth fighting.

Amin visits Omr, the chief elder of the tribe. He pays his respects to the old man, who has been a warrior and an arms dealer and has seen many wars. Omr is happy to see Amin again. Amin eats and dines with the family, which includes Wissam and his many stories from the front. Amin sleeps well in the house and then takes a walk around the grounds that remind him of his childhood. He sees the place where his father painted and the spot where his mother buried a stillborn puppy. He sits on a hill and listens to a Jewish man explain how Ariel Sharon is “reading the Torah backward” (152), building a wall that encloses Israel in another ghetto rather than offering it protection. The old man recognizes Amin from long ago and introduces himself as Zeev the Hermit. They talk about the Wall and religion, laughing together. They see a car approaching in the distance, come to collect Amin. 

The car contains Amin’s 90-year-old aunt, the family matriarch. None of the family resent Amin for having been away for so long. In turn, Amin is finding himself rejuvenated by the return to the lands of his youth. He meets all the new members of his family, as well as friends and neighbors. The celebrations last four days and then Omr’s house falls quiet again. Wissam has to leave, summoned by a telephone call. Amin feels uneasy watching him depart. Amin spends more time on the farm, working and talking to Zeev. One evening after talking to Zeev, Amin returns home to find everyone dressed in black. They are mourning. Wissam has filled his car with explosives and driven into a checkpoint. The next day, soldiers arrive and surround the house. With Omr sick, Amin must represent the household. He is told that the family have half an hour to evacuate before the home is bulldozed. Amin tries to argue in vain. The family evacuate, taking what they can. They watch on as the bulldozer moves toward the house. Enraged, Amin runs to try and stop the machine. He is knocked unconscious by the butt of a soldier’s rifle. 

Amin spends the next day staring at the rubble, all that remains of his family’s home. The family disperses, staying where they can, all of them stunned and shocked. Faten, a younger woman who never married, disappears one night. Though they try as hard as they can, the family cannot find her. Eventually, Amin learns that she has gone to Jenin. He knows what she intends to do. Taking a taxi, he travels to Jenin and surprises Khalil, searching for Adel. When he speaks to Adel, Amin is told that it is useless to try and stop Faten if she has already made up her mind. He learns that Sheikh Marwan will soon be in the mosque and decides that Faten will try and receive the sheikh’s blessing. 

The mosque is full, surrounded by militiamen. He tries to find Faten but the crowd is too big and the sermon is about to begin. Amin waits until the prayer is over and sees a car screech to a halt outside. Amin sees a group of militiamen move in an agitated fashion, including his former jailor. They stare at the sky through binoculars. Men begin to run in every direction, shouting about drones. The mosque is evacuated in a panic while Amin tries to spot Faten. Amin finds himself crushed among the throng, unable to break free. He sees the sheikh rushed outside and into a vehicle. Then, “there’s nothing more” (161). An explosion disrupts the square and—as in the opening chapter—Amin feels his flesh ripping to shreds. 

People try to pull the sheikh free of the burning car. A doctor signals that Amin will not make it. His body is thrown into an ambulance. Amin is taken to the hospital and laid upon a stretcher but no nurse or doctor sees to him. Relatives weep all around. A man kneels down and closes Amin’s eyes. The world goes black and Amin is seized by terror. In a final effort, he tries to regain control of his body but cannot. He sees an image of himself as a child, running through the fields around his family’s home until he is finally swept away by the sound of his father’s voice.