homeland - everything is a target for endless curses and insults, with-out the duel reaching a decisive point.
And amid all these insults Jamus and Ibrahim are telling each other about their lives. If they ever happened to meet, they would surely recognize each other.
On the fifth day of the dialogue Jamus gets a day’s leave. During the morning talk, between cursing and swearing, Jamus informs Ibrahim. He falls silent, lost in thought. The situation is desperate under the siege. Now the last route is blocked, where some supplies could be smuggled on camels in the dead of night. There is now an acute shortage of food, medicine, and ammunition.
"Listen Jamus, you pimp ..." Ibrahim pauses. For the first time he expresses a personal request. It is not easy for him. He has a sister in Jaffa. He hasn’t heard anything from her since the war started. If Jamus is prepared to look into the matter for him, he will call again in half an hour with the address. Jamus has no time. The jeep to Gedera is just about to leave. Still he waits.
When he returns the next day, his face is grim. I am sitting in the little tent, trying to find a fair way of allocating guard duty, when he comes in.
"Well?" I ask.
"Nothing!" he says.
"You found nothing?"
"Not there!"
"Did you ask at the military governor’s office?"
"I went everywhere. There are new immigrants living in the house. The Arabs can remember having seen her in the town after Jaffa was already taken. They think she is dead."
At ten o’clock the three of us are again sitting by the radio. "Hello - Bravo Alpha One, hello - Bravo Alpha One," we hear Ibrahim’s voice. Jamus holds the headset firmly. But he does not answer. The call is repeated again and again, until Ibrahim gives up hopelessly.
The next morning he tries again. And again Jamus sits by the radio with his grim expression and says nothing. "Fein inta ya Jamus,"23 Ibrahim begs. Jamus keeps silent.
"What has it got to do with you?" asks Tucki, who is unnerved by the silence. "Tell him the truth and be done with it."
"Kiss my ass!" Jamus spits back.