Apeirogon, by Colm Tóibín, is a novel that tells the interwoven stories of Bassam Araman and Rami Elhanan, two fathers who lost their daughters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The narrative explores themes of grief, reconciliation, and the enduring human capacity for empathy. Through their shared experiences, the novel highlights the devastating impact of violence and the potential for healing and understanding. The book's structure mirrors the complex and multifaceted nature of the conflict itself, reflecting the intricate connections between individuals and the larger political landscape. Ultimately, Apeirogon offers a powerful testament to the human spirit's resilience and the possibility of finding common ground even amidst profound loss and division.
Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan (peace activists with Parent’s Circle) are the two protagonists from Colum McCann’s Booker-Prize-longlisted book Apeirogon. Both lost their daughters to the conflict, ten years apart. Yet in spite of – or because of - this horror they became dedicated friends, or “brothers”, committed to opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine and working with “the enemy” via Parent’s Circle, a peace group set up for parents from “both sides” who’ve lost a child.
I spoke to Bassam and Rami on day #169 in the conflict and they’d just come from seeing the Pope. We cover how Bassam decided to study the Holocaust while imprisoned in an Israeli jail as a teenager for seven years, why Israelis are trapped by their victimhood and how we’ve all been locked into seeing this conflict as a football game of two sides.
This interview is a chapter in an incredible story that involves a big-time Hollywood actor, who reached out to me while I was camping in remote Western Australia, a secondhand book find, a six-way email chain and an incredible love that reaches across history, walls and global fragmentation.
NOTE: I will cover the very intersecting story of how we (the dads, Colum, the actor and I met) in the next episode.
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