Apeirogon

Bassam recalls his hunger strike in prison, occasioned by an additional two months added to his sentence without reason. He tried to keep moving; he drank water and an occasional salt tablet. He had no access to television or radio; he just paced in his cell. He took time to roll his cigarettes and smoke them. He recited songs over and over in his head. By the ninth day the hunger pains began. He slept more and paced less. The strike prompted a meeting with the warden, where each man wanted the other to give in to his demands. Bassam furtively stole a wrapped candy off the warden’s desk. Back in his cell he contemplated breaking his hunger strike for it. Eventually he slipped it in his mouth. Four days later, Bassam was told the added two months to his sentence would be removed.

In the second half of the 20th century, psychiatrists documented a rise in acute psychotic decompensation—delusions and episodes caused by proximity to holy places—in Jerusalem. Sufferers often felt they were a religious figure like Paul, Mary, Jesus, or Moses. The disorder was known to dissipate as soon as one left the city.

Rami and Bassam, after some convincing from the latter, traveled through Germany for their lecture circuit. Rami, a child of the Holocaust, vowed never to go but gave in eventually.

Months before Abir died, Bassam marked her height on a doorframe in their home. Bassam and Salwa never painted over the mark. Bassam darkened the line every year on Abir’s birthday. Even after they moved, Bassam still feels an unwritten mark touching him around his midpoint.

Bassam, against the orders of the doctors (who themselves were trying to avoid trouble), insisted on an autopsy for Abir. The state had already declared that no shots had been fired, so the autopsy would contradict this. The doctors said Bassam would have to pay for the autopsy out of pocket. He did just that because he wanted to file a criminal charge against the state. The criminal case was thrown out quickly, but he brought it to civil court.

In this case, the judge called for a reenactment. The judge, to many people’s surprise, ruled in favor of Bassam. Amidst the description of the trial, its context, and its aftermath, McCann includes a few sections on the meaning and etymology of an apeirogon and further expounds with the following:

As a whole an apeirogon approaches the shape of a circle, but a magnified view of a small piece appears to be a straight line. One can finally arrive at any point within the whole. Anywhere is reachable. Anything is possible, even the seemingly impossible.

At the same time, one can arrive anywhere within an apeirogon and the entirety of the shape is complicit in the journey, even that which has not yet been imagined (417).

Twelve days after Abir’s death, Bassam was on his way to a Parent’s Circle meeting. He was detained at a checkpoint in the Walaja valley. He was told to strip while they searched him; he even had to stand naked over a mirror and squat to check the contents of his anus. Salwa also always expressed extreme displeasure over the airport authorities always searching her hair wearing latex gloves.

Sometimes protestors would come to Bassam and Rami’s lectures. They were often middle-aged men. They were looking for attention, for something to occur, and for outrage.

The Arabic word for algebra suggests, etymologically, the repairing of broken bones. Bone healers understand that the trajectory of a gas canister fired from above or below changes how severe the fractured bone from impact can be. This also goes for rubber bullets—a rubber bullet hitting the front of the femur is more likely to break it and less likely if from behind.

In 1972, the poet Wael Zuaiter was killed while carrying around a copy of One Thousand and One Nights. He was shot 13 times for his supposed involvement in the Munich Olympic killings. Many of his friends and family came out against this charge, saying he was a pacifist. One of the bullets pierced the book. The string of retaliation killings on Palestinians was a part of the Israeli mission “Operation Wrath of God,” whose events were depicted in the Steven Spielberg film, Munich. Along with blank books shot with a single bullet and representing the stories of Palestinians everywhere that cannot be told other pieces, a Palestinian artist, Emily Jacir, displayed photos of Zuaiter’s copy of One Thousand and One Nights at the 2006 Sydney Biennial.

In the conclusion to the book-long episode of Bassam and Rami driving to meet-up, Bassam finally returns home. He texts Rami: “Home, brother.” Rami responds with a thumbs-up emoji and “See you tomorrow.” Bassam speaks with Salwa before going out to water his garden. He stands there while the earth drinks the water from the hose.