Rami and Bassam: Apeirogon

Journey of two bereaved fathers – an Israeli and a Palestinian

A new play based on a real story relating the joint journey of two bereaved fathers: an Israeli and a Palestinian who, in an exceptional brave way, found in their personal pain the power of reconciliation. They became the co-chairmen of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF).

Based on the novel Apeirogon of the Irish American author Colum McCann who researched the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

From the reviews of Apeirogon: “An outstanding and unbelievable creation” …” Apeirogon will have a strong influence on whoever reads it, and can lead to great consequences for the future of this place” … “A masterpiece with a broad horizon” … “This beautiful book, which is deeply felt, is first and foremost an extraordinary act of listening”.

The play presents the profound process of change that two bereaved fathers went through: The Israeli Rami Elhanan, whose daughter Smadar was killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Bassam Armin whose daughter, Abir, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by an IDF soldier. Rami was not involved in politics, but the encounter with the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF) gradually changed his mind, and he joined the organization.

The seventeen years old Bassam helped a band of adolescents to throw a grenade at an Israeli military vehicle. He was caught and sentenced to seven years in prison. During his prison term he began to study the Holocaust and became convinced that the only way to fight the Occupation was through non-violent struggle. As a result, he was one of the founders of the Combatants for Peace organization. After his daughter was killed by an Israeli soldier, he also joined the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF).

The heavy loss of their daughters led Rami and Basam to a long and complex journey that made a profound change in their consciousness: from a position of hostility towards the other side to harnessing their private grief to a struggle for peace. Both eventually stood side by side at the head of the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF).

Besides Rami and Bassam and their family members, a series of Israeli and Palestinian characters appear in the play: soldiers, police officers, doctors, a jailer, and a judge who together create a mosaic of voices that describes the complex relationship between Israelis and Palestinians.

Amid the most difficult and turbulent period in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and at a time of apprehension for the future of the place in which we live, Rami and Bassam: Apeirogon presents a courageous dialogue about loss, brotherhood and hope, art that points to the possibility of imagining a different future.

Writer: Avner Ben-Amos
Director and Dramaturge: Sinai Peter

Show length: 75 min.