After a night of terror, silence fell over the tunnel.
They were all exhausted, but sleep did not come to Daniel.
He tossed and turned, reliving the sounds of the explosions, and each time returning to Yusuf's face as he said, "Those who are destined to witness are not yet dead."
He finally approached him, his voice hoarse:
"Yusuf... why? Why do you remain so strong? Are you not afraid of death?"
Yusuf looked at him for a long time, then replied calmly:
"Fear changes nothing. If I die... it will be for a just cause. But you... you will die while
occupying land that is not yours."
Daniel froze.
"But... this land is our promised land. The Torah says so. We are only... defending what is ours."
Yusuf smiled sadly and took a deep breath before replying:
"You know, Daniel? A hundred years ago, when the Jews were expelled from Europe, thePalestinians were the first to open their homes to them. They fed them and gave them a safe place to stay. My grandfather used to say: Jews are human beings like us, they have a right to live."
He paused for a moment, then continued:
"But what happened after that? They brought you in on ships... and you started taking over the land, house by house, farm by farm. You were no longer guests, you became masters with weapons, and you expelled the owners of the houses."
Daniel trembled at the impact of the words, but he tried to stick to his argument:
"We had nowhere else to go. The world had betrayed us. After the Holocaust... we needed
safety."
Yusuf took a step closer, his voice rising for the first time:
"Who said that your safety should come at our expense? Should we pay for Europe's sins? Why should a Palestinian child be punished today for being born in Gaza?"
Daniel had no answer.
He stared at Yusuf, his heart torn between what he had been taught and what he was hearing now.
He bowed his head and whispered so softly that almost no one could hear him:
"Maybe... maybe I never thought of it that way."
Yusuf smiled slightly, as if he saw a small crack through which light was seeping.
"Thinking is the beginning of freedom, Daniel."